Indonesia mantles $10 million bamboo house in Shanghai

Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Shanghai | Sat, 05/01/2010 10:30 AM

First strike: Indonesian delegation, represented by among others (from right to left), Indonesian Ambassador to China Imron Cotan, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa play a gamelan music instrument to officially open the Indonesian pavilion at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on Saturday. – JP/Primastuti Handayani

The government of Indonesia is using the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, as a stepping stone to nation branding, which is constantly being redefined and improved, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said here Friday.

In Shanghai, the government has built a US$10 million pavilion that depicts a tropical-themed house using bamboo. The 2,400-square-meter pavilion will be officially opened for the public Saturday, the day the expo opens.

Mari emphasized that Indonesia’s participation in the five yearly event was to showcase the progress that had the government had achieved, as well as answer misperceptions the public might have about Indonesia such as it being unsafe, undemocratic and marred with corruption.

“We want to use the expo to show how wonderful Indonesia is,” she said.

“We hope our participation at the event can increase the number of tourists from China. Data from the visa issuance shows that about 350,000 Chinese tourists visit Indonesia annually. The figure, however, is lower compared to other Southeast Asian countries.”

Edy Putra Irawadi, deputy to the coordinating economic minister, in charge of industry and trade, said that Indonesia’s participation at the expo covered many regions in the archipelago.

The government hopes to net Rp 1 trillion (US$110.8 million) in transactions at the six-month long event from a multiplying effect tourism, trade and investment sectors can produce. To further herald the Indonesia brand, the government will host a series of other international events such as the ASEAN Summit and the SEA Games next year, as well as the 2013 APEC meeting.

“By hosting those events, Indonesia will be under the spotlight. We have plenty of homework to do, especially in the service sector,” she said after visiting the China and Japan pavilions at the expo with Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa.

“We should provide better services, especially at the country’s entrances such as airports. We have an advantage in our role as host for ASEAN, as the bloc is holding meetings throughout the year. As for the APEC meeting, we should consider if we need to build new hotels or convention centers.”

All natural: The Green School in Bali features bamboo construction engineered into a more modern look. JP/ Zul Trio Anggono

Related Article:

More articles related to Bamboo ....

RI to exhibit cultural, natural richness

Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/29/2010 9:03 AM

Less than a week before the kickoff of the World Expo Shanghai China (WESC) 2010, the organizers announced tickets for the May 1 opening day were sold out.

Such great enthusiasm reflects the pride of the Chinese government in hosting the event — dubbed the third largest in the world after the Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup. The organizers have issued some tips on the World Expo’s website for would-be visitors, which include finding the entrances and wearing comfortable walking shoes.

For the government of Indonesia, this year’s World Expo is very special. It is the second time Indonesia has had its own pavilion at the event. The first time was in New York in 1964, where Indonesia also participated as an independent country. During the Dutch colonial era, Indonesia, then named the Dutch Indies, took part in the event in Chicago in 1893.

A total of 192 countries and 50 multinational corporations have confirmed their participation at the six-month-long event that will end on Oct. 31. The event is expected to attract 70 million visitors from around the globe, the organizers said on its website en.expo2010.cn.

Indonesia’s Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said recently that the presence of the Indonesia pavilion in the expo “is proof of the efforts to position the country on the world map.

“It will enhance Indonesia’s image as a country possessing rich cultural, natural… resources and a rich civilization,” said Mari, who chairs the Indonesian participation committee.

For Indonesia, this nation branding exercise — the term nation branding was first coined by author and British government adviser Simon Anholt — is to showcase the country’s potential and achievements in economic growth, democracy and politics, as well as culture.

What makes Indonesia’s participation more special is that the year 2010 marks the 60th anniversary of Indonesia-China diplomatic ties. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao had to cancel his state visit to Jakarta, slated for April 23, following the earthquake in Yushu county that killed over 2,000 people.

At the 5.28-square-kilometer WESC, the Indonesian pavilion will be located in Zone B along with pavilions for Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, the Philippines and other international organizations, including the United Nations. The 2,400-square-meter pavilion is built on a 4,000-square-meter plot of land.

The Indonesian pavilion carries the theme “Indonesia Biodiver City”, in line with the WESC grand theme “Better City, Better Life”.

To showcase the theme, the pavilion is covered with greenish bamboo stems, some of them growing out

of the ceiling. The use of bamboo reflects the synergy between the traditional and contemporary lifestyle

in Indonesia.

The pavilion’s interior will highlight Indonesia’s diverse culture, influenced by China following the arrival of Admiral Cheng Ho, or Zheng He, of China, in the 1400s, and by Buddhism as represented by the Borobudur temple relief inside the pavilion and others.

The pavilion will include a restaurant serving Indonesian food and a special corner for Komodo dragons where visitors can vote for the beast to be among the world’s New Seven Wonders of Nature.

“Every single aspect of the display [at the pavilion] will reflect our true character as a nation,” Mari said.

The government chose “Indonesia is” as the country’s tagline.

Indrani Buntarian, the communication specialist on Indonesia’s committee, said the tagline was aimed at sending a positive message about Indonesia to the whole world.

“This event is important for Indonesia because it is a place where we can build a ‘conversation’ with other countries,” she said.

Mari said that by promoting Indonesia, foreign investors were expected to invest in Indonesia, and the WESC was tipped to bring a multiplying effect in tourism, trade and investment. The government aims to earn Rp 1 trillion (US$110.8 million) in transactions at the event.

Indonesia’s committee has an agreement with flag carrier Garuda Indonesia to be the expo’s official airline for both Indonesian delegates and the public. Garuda is the only Indonesian airline linking Shanghai with Jakarta.

Garuda Indonesia’s president and CEO Emirsyah Satar expressed hope that the WESC would help raise the number of passengers using its Jakarta-Shanghai service by between 10 and 15 percent, from last year’s 60,000 passengers.

Maluku artist team to Grace Indonesia fair in Netherlands

Antara News, Saturday, March 20, 2010 22:17 WIB

Ambon (ANTARA News) - A Maluku artist team is being prepared to grace an Indonesia Fair to be organized by the Indonesian Embassy in the Netherlands early next month.

The chief of Maluku`s Cultural Park, Semmy Toisutta, said here on Saturday he was preparing the artist team, made up of a Hawaiian music band and a number of traditional dancers to highlight the Indonesia Fair to be held in the Netherlands early April this year.

"We are currently preparing an artist team for the Indonesia Fair at the request of the Indonesian ambassador in the Netherlands," Toisutta said.

He said the artist team would present Maluku songs accompanied by Hawaiian music, and Maluku traditional dances, namely Tari Lenso, Pinemou, Pataheri, Sasi Laut, Kabaressy, Mahina Arika, and two other contemporary dances produced by the Maluku Cultural Park to accompany Banda Neira and Panggayo songs.

"We are specially producing the two contemporary dances to be performed to the tunes of Banda Neira and Panggayo songs during the Indonesia Fair in the Netherlands later," Toisutta said.

He added that besides highlighting the Indonesia Fair, the artist team from Maluku would laters also perform in five major cities in the Netherlands.

"Our artist team has also been asked to perform in five other cities in the Netherlands," Toisutta said without naming the cities.

He said the Indonesia Fair would last five days from April 1 to 5, 2010, and therefore the team would leave for Amsterdam on March 30.

It was hoped the Maluku art performances at the Indonesia Fair and in the five Dutch cities would arouse the interest of Dutch people to visit the "Province of a Thousand Islands" later.

"Maluku has characteristic art and cultural performances which we expect to be able to entice Dutch people in particular and Europans in general to visit Maluku province," Toisutta said.

Pasar Malam Indonesia, The Hague

Related Article:

Pasar Malam Indonesia (Facebook)

Maluku community in Netherlands to help promote "Sail Banda 2010"

Solo SMEs to participate in Singapore Chingay Parade

Antara News, Thursday, January 14, 2010 15:57 WIB

Solo, C Java (ANTARA News) - Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Central Java`s city of Solo have prepared various handicraft goods to participate in the Chingay parade in Singapore which will take place on February 19-22, 2010.

The handicraft products, mostly Batik cloth, are expected to enliven the international event, head of the cooperatives and UKM Solo office, Febria Roekmie (Evy) said here on Thursday.

"The handicraft goods include batik masks, batik bracelets, and batik cloth are aimed to support the contingent from Solo," Roekmie said.

A total of 50 countries will take part in the annual Chingay parade, she said, adding that batik is not only used for making dresses.

Meanwhile, head of Culture and Tourism Solo office, Purnomo Subagyo said Indonesia in the event is given a quota for 150 participants while other countries such as Malaysia, China and Japan only 20 participants each at the most.

Indonesia aims to reap Rp 1 trillion from Shanghai Expo

Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/22/2009 4:00 PM

Indonesia needs Rp 104 billion (US$10.92 million) to participate in Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, from May to October next year, but is aiming to reap Rp 1 trillion in total transactions, an official said Tuesday.

"Our target includes export goods, investment and tourism ... There will be business missions, trade missions, business forums, product and cultural promotions during the six months," Edy Putra Irawadi, deputy to the coordinating economic minister in charge of industry and trade, said after a meeting with the industry minister.

The Rp 104 billion budget will be used to rent a 4,000 square meter booth. In 2003, Indonesia spent Rp 20 billion to rent a 324 square meter booth, he said.

Industry Minister MS Hidayat said the government would make international-standard preparations for the expo, hiring professional event organizers.

Villages go cyber to promote products, improve market access

Sri Wahyuni , The Jakarta Post, Bantul | Mon, 12/07/2009 12:34 PM

A number of villages in Wukirsari sub-district, Imogiri district, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, have shown initiative in making their business potential accessible on the Internet through a website that they collectively set up and manage.

Five villages in the sub-district have created hot spots where people can freely access the local Internet connection to download or upload.

"This is part of our way of promoting our potential and attracting more tourists and buyers to come to our villages," head of Wukirsari sub-district Bayu Bintoro told The Jakarta Post recently.

The five hot spot areas are the sub-district's newly built Gazebo hall, the administration hall, at Singosaren village, at Manggung village and the Wukirsari Tourism Information Center (TIC).

Bayu said the idea came from the sub-district's young businessmen under the Wukirsari's youth grouping Karang Taruna, who collectively or individually run businesses as producers of various commodities.

They assembled the hardware to set up the hot spots themselves. "It saved budgets," Bayu said.

Wukirsari, has a youth entrepreneurship pilot project , according to Bayu, comprising 95 business units run by young people. These include batik making, snack production, fisheries and animal husbandry.

The sub-district, he added, had at least three production centers for batik, leather crafts and plaited bamboo products. It also offers scenic village landscapes, making it an attractive place for tourists.

Being a tourist village, Wukirsari offers tour packages which includes a batik-making course and a taste of the sub-district's culinary traditions including wedang uwuh (herbal drink), pecel kembang turi (vegetables served with peanut sauce), abon jambu mete (a dish of fried cashew) and gudheg manggar (a dish made from young coconut palm flowers).

"Although no business orders so far has been made through the Internet, more buyers and tourists have come to the sub-district recently thanks to the information they read on our website," said Bayu, adding that the website was www.wukirsari.com.

Bayu also said that to help improve the quality of the products that his sub-district produced as well as to educate and train the producers to manage their businesses better, his administration had been cooperating with third parties.

The latest example of such cooperation was with the Jogja Heritage Society (JHS) with support from the Australia Indonesia Partnership's Yogyakarta-Central Java community assistance program.

Through an eight-month supervision program for batik makers in the sub-district, which ended last week, JHS provided training and workshops aimed at improving the creativity, professionalism and marketing networking of batik producers.

"Through the program we expect the batik makers, most of whom worked before as artisan out-workers for city-based middle-men, can now help themselves to build up businesses of their own and come up with competitive, quality products," JHS' executive director Titi Handayani said.

Related Articles:

104 Tourism Villages in Indonesia by 2010

Micro Financial Institutions State Degree to be Ready in 2010

Kadin Asks for Wider Access to Micro Loans

Indonesia Pumps More Money into Tourism

The Jakarta Globe, Nurfika Osman, October 23, 2009

A jet skier plies the waters under a setting sun in the Bunaken area of North Sulawesi, one of the destinations that could benefit from a boost in tourism marketing.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been given a significant financial boost to attract more tourists, the minister said on Thursday.

Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said the ministry’s budget for this year has been increased by 36 percent from its 2009 level to Rp 1.366 trillion, plus Rp 426.3 billion for marketing.

In a press conference short on details, Jero, who often evaded direct questions, said the ministry now answered to the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, not the Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare.

He said the increased budget was the reason for the shift.

Jero said the budget was still insufficient but added that he was optimistic that the tourism sector would continue to grow.

“The next five years will be harder because we have a working [performance] contract with the president, but I am sure we will continue to be as successful as we have been over the past five years,” he said.

“Visit Indonesia Year” in 2008 saw a record number of tourists arriving in the country: 6.4 million compared to 5.5 million visitors in 2007.

Tourism generated $7.3 billion in 2008, according to the ministry, up from $5.75 billion the previous year.

Tourist arrivals are expected to suffer in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, but in March the ministry was still forecasting a slight increase.

Jero said challenges still facing the tourism industry included immigration issues and the number of flights into the country.

But he said he was optimistic that flagship carrier Garuda would be able to increase the number of direct flights it operated, including to European countries after its ban was revoked.

Its ban on flying to the EU was lifted in August.

Jero said he would collaborate directly with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights on immigration issues, specifically visas for tourist arrivals.

“We cannot let the bureaucratic system in immigration offices create difficulties for foreign tourists,” he said.

Asked about his strategy to boost tourism, including during the first 100 days of his new term, Jero said it was too early to comment.

“We are still thinking about the best strategy to boost this sector. I will collaborate with my staff and announce it soon,” he said.

Indonesian Embassy in Beijing to organize "Indonesia Week"

Beijing (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Embassy in Beijing is scheduled to organize an "Indonesia Week" from June 16-21, 2009 in Wangfujing to promote investment, tourism, and trade among the Chinese public.

"We want to organize the Indonesia Week as part of our efforts to promote the potential of investment, trade, and tourism to Chinese and other international community," embassy spokesperson Rosmalawati Chalid said here on Wednesday.

She said similar event was also planned to be organized from October 10-15 last year but due to the lack of preparation it was canceled.

According to Rosmalawati, the Indonesia Week was a golden opportunity to promote trade commodities, investment and tourism potential to Chinese community in specific and international community in general.

The series of activity would include the exhibition of various commodities, art and cultural performances, fashion show, in addition to business forum with the local government, businessmen and the people.

She said the organization of Indonesia Week was intended to improve Indonesia-China partnership, investment, trade, and tourism in China, especially in Beijing.

"The event is expected to step up bilateral trade volume and the flow of investment and tourism from China to Indonesia," she said, adding that Wangfujing was one of the most visited area in China by domestic and foreign tourists.

Russia, Main Target for Indonesia Tourism

Monday, 23 March, 2009 | 16:17 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Despite the global crisis, the number of tourists coming to Indonesia remains high.

Tourists from Russia have been increasing their visits to Indonesia from year to year.

In 2008, 65,000 tourists from Russia visited Indonesia, 40 percent more than in 2007 when there were 46,000 tourists who came to Indonesia from Russia.

“Russia is one of our main markets in East Europe,” said Sapta Nirwandar, Director General of Marketing from the Tourism and Culture Department at the 16th Moscow International Tour and Travel exhibition last week.

In this exhibition that lasted until last Sunday, Indonesia was represented by 19 organizations including hotels and tour agencies.

IRFAN (Moscow)

RI's online ad market to go bigger despite crisis: Yahoo

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 03/23/2009 1:22 PM

The deepening global financial crisis may provide an opportunity for the online advertising industry in Indonesia to expand, Yahoo says.

The US giant Internet service provider said that not only would promotions become more targeted and thus relatively more efficient, but online ad performance can also be measured in real-time

"Based on a study at the end of last year, the online advertising market in Indonesia was estimated to worth more than US$26 million and we see that tracking towards almost $42 million in 2010," Yahoo's senior director for business development in Southeast Asia Pontus Sonnerstedt said last week.

"We are very aware of the economic situation, which puts advertisers in a tough position in terms of the ad budget," Sonnerstedt said. "That is why it is very important that every rupiah is spent on reaching the target audiences."

According to Sonnerstedt, there are many benefits that online can offer to advertisers in times of tight budgeting during the crisis such as real-time measurability and accountability.

"For example, if you run a campaign today, you can actually measure the clicks and response rate of your campaign in real time. If you don't see results, you can always change your campaign immediately," he said.

"By doing that you can optimize your campaign in real time. In any other media it would be difficult and costly and you can't measure the campaign performance in real time."

Sonnerstedt also said another benefit online advertising could offer was much more accurate targeting of prospects and audiences.

"In the digital space, there are many unique ways that you can do targeting such as location, time and age," he said.

Despite the hefty target growth of around 61 percent for the next two years, spending on online advertisements is still relatively small compared to promotions in other media.

Data from the Indonesian Association of Advertising Agencies (PPPI) and Nielsen media research revealed that advertisers spent between Rp 42 trillion (US$3.6 billion) and Rp 47 trillion last year.

The figure was projected to increase by another Rp 5 trillion this year, spent 60 percent on television advertising and 30 percent on daily newspapers.

Yahoo's survey, done with Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), based on about 2,000 individuals in eight Indonesian cities shows only 3 percent of the country's internet users often purchase products online.

However, Sonnerstedt believes that online advertisements will still be an interesting investment for advertisers. "eCommerce, as we saw here is quite limited. But you don't advertise to only sell online, you can also advertise to sell offline as well," Sonnerstedt said.

Sonnerstedt said the key for advertisers to reach their target is to combine online and offline media.

"So far, we have seen that the effect of using online and offline advertising has been very encouraging," he said.

The survey also reveals that internet usage is much higher amongst the young segment with over 64 percent of usage by individuals between the age of 15 and 19.

"You can see a very youthful segment of internet users. That means, internet is the proper media if you want to reach the young market," TNS deputy managing director Suresh Subramanian said. (hdt)

RI, San Juan exploring cooperation possibilities

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Ambassador to Argentine Sunten Z Manurung visted the country`s San Juan province recently to explore the possibilities of cooperation. 

According to a press statement from the Foreign Ministry here over the weekend, Ambassador Manurung, recently visited the province which is located at the foot of the Andes mountain range, at the invitation of San Juan Governor Jose Luis Gioja. 

The ambassador was invited to attend the Fiesta del Sol 2009. Fiesta del Sol is an annual event which is enlivened with a most joyous parade and a cultural festival in the region. 

Ambassador Manurung was welcomed by San Juan Governor Jose Luis Gioja and Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman of Argentine Ruperto Godoy. 

In an effort to tighten relations between Indonesia and the San Juan regional government, the ambassador made use of the opportunity to explore possible cooperation with the province. 

In a meeting with the San Juan governor, the ambassador said that the two countries had very good potentials both sides could mutually take benefits, such as the field of trade. 

Indonesia hoped that more of its products such as oil/gas, rubber, palm oil, electronics, automotive, textiles, furniture and handicraft products would enter Argentine. 

The Indonesian ambassador also invited San Juan governor and entrepreneurs to visit Indonesia to see themselves Indonesia`s export products that would be displayed in Jakarta in October.

BCA consolidates $10 million media with local shop

By Asiya Bakht, Brandrepublic.asia   2-Mar-09, 11:16 

JAKARTA - Bank Central Asia (BCA), one of Indonesia's biggest banks has consolidated its media account estimated to be worth US$10 million with local shop Bintang Pratama, after a three-way pitch that involved OMD and Dwi Sapta. 

BCA’s media account was until now split among several media agencies including OMD and this is the first time that the bank has appointed an AOR. 

Commenting on the win Cedric Miranda, technical advisor of media at Pratama Communications group said that starting the year on a good note gives the agency the confidence to sail through this difficult year. 

”It’s a thrill to win any new business. What makes this account more interesting is that we are purely a local agency and we have been winning some fairly large businesses against international agencies.” 

BCA is Indonesia's second-largest lender. In November last year the bank had said that its loans growth was expected to slow to between 10-15 per cent in 2009, due to tougher economic conditions.

Related Article:

Indonesia's BCA 2008 unaudited net profit up

Indonesia realizes promotion to Middle East still insufficient

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia realizes that its promotion to the Middle East is still insufficient causing investment from the region remains low. 

The country`s state enterprise minister, Sofyan Djalilm said here on Monday "we are still under-promoted in the Middle East so that only few investors from the region know the country while the potentials in our country are huge." 

The minister said at a press conference on the 5th World Islamic Economic Forum that a Middle Eastern investor told him over a lunch that afternoon about his wife who asked what for when he told her he would leave for Indonesia, impressing that the country was still unknown. 

However, Sofyan who is also a deputy chair of the meeting said the investor immediatelly called his wife upon arrival here to ask her to come to Jakara telling her that "shopping malls here are no less superior than those in the US or Europe." 

So, they really did not know much about Jakarta, the minister said. 

In view of that he hoped the holding of the World Islamic Economic Forum would make Middle Eastern investors know the country better and interested to invest in the country. 

He said he also hoped the forum would lead to agreements as well as their implementation. 

Another deputy chair of the meeting, Tanri Abeng, shared the minister`s view that Indonesia still insufficiently conducted promotion to the Middle East. In view that he said he planned to conduct better promotion efforts. 

"At the end of the meeting on March 4 we would conduct an exhibition on Indonesia to promote the country`s potentials. Moreover more participants attended the meeting this time and more than half of them came from the Middle East. The number of attendees was larger than it was in Malaysia before," he said. 

This means, he said, that Middle Eastern investors began to be interested in the country. "It has never happened before that the number of delegates reaching more than one thousand," he said. 

He said now was the opportunity for Indonesia to attract foreign investors. "They used to look at the US and Europe because of their financial sector but now when the West is in crisis they turned to the East," he said. 

He said investment in Eastern countries would not be the same as in the West. "In the Eastern countries it would go more to the real sector while in the West it would go the financial sector. This means an opportunity for us that have a huge pontential in the sector," he said. 

The chairman of the South African Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Ibrahim E Patel, said the event was an important forum for investors to know more about Moslem countries. 

"Here we would discuss substantial platforms stressing on partnership cooperation. We know that trade knows no state borders, politics, religions and races," he said.

National Geographic Traveler Magazine Launched in Indonesia

Medianewsline.com, Max Digital Media Newswire, Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:55:00 

A new edition of National Geographic Traveler magazine has launched in Indonesia, broadening the international reach of the world's most widely read travel magazine to 13 local-language editions. The Bahasa Indonesia edition, which debuted in January, is published by Gramedia Majalah, a Jakarta-based publishing group that publishes both National Geographic magazine in Indonesia and the country's largest newspaper, Kompas. 

Editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler Indonesia is Tantyo Bangun, a documentary filmmaker and photographer, who also edits National Geographic magazine. Published under license from the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., each issue of National Geographic Traveler Indonesia will adhere to the core principles of the U.S. edition — culture, authenticity and sustainability — while also exhibiting a unique local editorial flavor. The Bahasa Indonesia edition features about 40 percent of the English-language-edition content and 60 percent new editorial material. 

Local-language editions of National Geographic Traveler are also available in China, Spain, Russia, the Netherlands, Israel, Poland, Slovenia, Latin America, Armenia, Czech Republic, Croatia and Romania. 

"National Geographic Traveler tells incomparable stories about the peoples and places of the world. Leading with an insider's perspective, we emphasize the intrinsic flavor of each place we cover," said Keith Bellows, editor of National Geographic Traveler. 

The National Geographic Society is one of the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to "increase and diffuse geographic knowledge," the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 325 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy. 

Growth Triangle tourism cooperation

Bangkokpost.com, 28/02/2009 at 07:54 PM 

Phetchaburi - Leaders of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia on Saturday agreed to step up closer tourism cooperation under the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle in a campaign to be launched this year. 

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also urged his two counterparts, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, to further cooperate in energy to strengthen regional security in the longer term. 

The three leaders held talks on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cha-am district of Phetchaburi. 

PM's Office Minister Virachai Virameteekul said after the fourth IMT-GT meeting, chaired by the Indonesian president, that the new tourism campaign for the sub-region would be officially launched in Sumatra Island in coming months as a joint effort between the three countries. 

The private sector would be encouraged to take leading role to promote tourism opportunity in the sub-region including medical tourism, he said. 

Mr Abhisit has expressed his opinion that tourism would be the key for IMT-GT members to get through the current global economic crisis. 

Besides, the premier called on Indonesia to develop cooperation on liquefied natural gas. With Malaysia, Thailand proposed joint development of the energy land bridge which is a part of Thailand's long-delayed Southern Seaboard project. 

The southern seaboard has been suggested to be develop in line with Malaysia's northern and eastern regional development plan.