RI sends $3.3 million worth of assistance to Pakistan

Antara News, Tuesday, August 31, 2010 15:56 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The total assistance of Indonesian aid to Pakistani flood victims is worth $3.3 million and it will be sent to the country in two stages.

Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono said here on Tuesday that the total assistant was worth $3.3 million and the fist stage has been sent to Pakistan and the second would follow.

"The first stage of assistance, amounting $1.3 million in the form of logistics and medicine was sent to Pakistan early of this month," Agung Laksono said here on Tuesday.

He added that the second stage in the form of cash money would be sent on Wednesday, September 1, 2010.

"In the second stage of the assistance we will send a cash of $2 million along with National Defense Forces (TNI) and medical personnel," Agung Laksono said.

He said a 45-member group consisting of medical personnel, TNI personnel, and National Board of Disaster Mitigation personnel would soon be sent to Pakistan.

"The dispatch of the second phase assistance to Pakistani flood victims is in accordance with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s instruction," Laksono said.

He said the first phase of assistance which has been sent to Pakistan was made up of among others 4,000 pieces of blanket, 500 packages of canned food, 3 tons of medicine, and 50 tons baby food.

According to Agung Laksono, the dispatch of humanitarian assistance to Pakistan was part of Indonesian solidarity to the flood victims in the country.

RI to send aid to Pakistan flood victims

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 08/04/2010 2:48 PM | World

The Indonesian government plans on Thursday to send a shipment of relief aid for flood victims in Pakistan.

The aid will be transported to Pakistan aboard a cargo plane, Disaster Mitigation Agency official Soetrisno said Wednesday.

A team comprising 20 health and logistics personnel will travel to Pakistan to deliver the aid, which will include 4,000 blankets, 500 cans of food, 3 tons of medicine, and 5 tons of infant food.

The government is also scheduled to dispatch an advance team comprising four members.

The advance team will report on the conditions of the flood-hit area and assess what assistance is required by flood victims, Soetrisno told Antara news agency.

The worst flooding in Pakistan’s history have affected more than 3 million people so far and the death toll has climbed to more than 1,400, a spokesman for the U.N. Children's Fund said Tuesday.

Abdul Sami Malik said 1.3 million people had been severely affected by the flooding that had been met with heavy criticism of the local government for its handling of the disaster.

Pakistani authorities are struggling to help flood victims, many of whom have lost their homes and livelihoods and say they had not received any official warnings that floods were heading their way.

Malik said aid agencies and Pakistani government officials will meet on Tuesday to determine whether they need to make an urgent international appeal for help.

Authorities are expecting the death toll to increase, as more of the heavy monsoon rains lashing the area for the past week are forecast. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said more than 29,500 houses were damaged and a key trade highway to China was blocked.

Pakistan, Indonesia have a joint art exhibition

The Jakarta Post, Sun, 03/14/2010 3:53 PM

INDONESIA: More than 150 works of art by Pakistani and Indonesian artists will be displayed at an exhibition at the Pakistan Embassy that runs from March 16 to 22.

The works of prominent Pakistani artist Ayesha Khan can also be seen at the event, organized by the Pakistan Embassy in collaboration with members of the Pakistani community.

Ayesha Khan has been a professional artist for more than 23 years and is well versed in the use of water colors, oils, acrylics, pastels and graphic design.

Some of Ambassador Sanaullah's paintings will also be displayed at the exhibition.

Among the Indonesian artists, masterpieces of the past and present artists, including Irsam, Luthfi, Hidayat Ambon, Koempol, Pardolli Fadli, Very Apriyanto, Iton and Pugo Tujahjono, will be on display. - JP

India To Assist Indonesia To Set Up Its First Commodity Exchange

RTTNews , 3/24/2009 4:09 AM ET

(RTTNews) - India has offered to help Indonesia in setting up its first such bourse. The move is part of the proposed India-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or CEPA, for which the talks are scheduled to begin by this year-end, media reports said.

The Joint Study Group that finalizes the CEPA text has asked the commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) and leading commodity exchanges like National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) and Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) to hold talks with Indonesian authorities and companies in assisting the setting up of commodity exchanges.

Leading IT companies like TCS, which played a significant role in the set up and running of NCDEX, will also be roped in to develop the back-end IT infrastructure for such an exchange in Indonesia, the release said.

Though Indonesia is one of the largest producers of palm oil, rubber, coal and iron ore, it lacks a functioning commodities exchange, while other Asian nations like India, China, Japan, Singapore and Pakistan all have vibrant commodity bourses. The other main countries with commodity exchanges are Brazil, the US, Argentina, Iran, the Netherlands, UK and the city of Dubai.

Presently, most of the commodity traders from Indonesia hedge their positions in Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange and other Asian bourses.

As far as India is concerned the country not only has thriving commodity bourses, but also required technology to support the functioning.

by RTT Staff Writer

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

RI, Pakistan agree to broaden PTA agreement

Hua Hin (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and Pakistan have reached  agreement to increase the number of commodities to be covered in their Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said here over the weekend. 

"Previously PTA talks between the two countries focused on a reduction of import duty on Indonesia's crude palm oil (CPO) exported to Pakistan and on Pakistan's 'kino' oranges exported to Indonesia," the trade minister said on the sidelines of the 14th ASEAN summit in the resort city of Hua Hin, some 200 km from Bangkok. 

The minister said that Indonesia agreed to cut its import duty on Pakistan's orange exports in return for its import duty cut on Indonesia's CPO exports. 

"But Pakistan also asked for an exchange of import duty cuts on other commodities besides on the CPO and oranges," the minister said. 

She said Indonesia would therefore also ask for the lowering of the import duty on its exports of other commodities such as paper while Pakistan would also propose other types of commodities. 

"Because we asked for additional types of commodities, they also asked the same thing," she said. 

The minister said that both sides were still negotiating tens of commodity tariff headings that still needed further agreements before the PTA was signed. 

"We hope that agreements on these would be reached sooner because Malaysia has been enjoying a preferential tariff on its CPO exports," she said. 

The PTA negations between Indonesia and Pakistan were expected to be completed last year but due to the change in the government leadership in that country, the talks could be resumed only last month. 

During the on-going talks on PTA, Pakistan has agreed to lower its import duty on Indonesia's CPO exports, including its by-products, by 10 percent. 

In return, Indonesia agreed to lower its import duty on Pakistan's 'kino' orange exports. 

The agreement is badly needed by Indonesian CPO exporters. Indonesia's CPO exports to Pakistan are relatively high, reaching US$400 million per annum.

TEI falls short of expectations

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta 

The recent 23rd Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) recorded a total of US$214.17 million in transactions, a slight rise from the $208.26 million recorded at last year's event. 

But despite the increase, the figure was less than projected. 

"The bad news is we missed the target of $220 million because global demand is declining," Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said. 

"But the good news is we were still able to record growth." 

Mari said a slowdown in Indonesia's "traditional markets", such as the United States and members of the European Union, partly contributed to the shortfall. 

For example, the value of transactions with Spanish businesses sharply declined from $23.91 million in 2007 to $2.07 million. 

Orders from Australian businesses also were down dramatically, from $13.71 million to $2.24 million. 

Orders from Japanese businesses fell from $11.26 million last year to $6.49 million, while transactions from Taiwan dropped from $9.88 million to $5.2 million. 

Despite missing the target, the TEI did manage to attract buyers from new markets, Mari said. 

Orders from new players accounted for $148 million of the total, including orders from Egypt ($28.47 million), Bulgaria ($12.25 million), Saudi Arabia ($6.26 million), Sudan ($4.65 million), Nigeria ($4.33 million), Pakistan ($4.32 million), Ukraine ($4.28 million), South Africa ($3.16 million) and Brazil ($3.14 million). 

"We'll now focus on emerging markets, like China and India, as well as on new markets, such as Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Kazakhtan and Russia," Mari said. 

Indonesia is also trying to benefit from an expected drop in China's share of the international market as it is "losing its competitiveness in the manufacturing sector with the strengthening of the yuan against the U.S. dollar".

South Korea current largest buyer at trade expo

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta 

South Korea is currently the largest buyer of this year's Indonesian Trade Expo with a total transaction volume of US$4 million. 

Algeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh follow closely with US$2.9 million, $1.5 million and $1.2 million respectively, tempointeraktif.com reported on Saturday. 

The 23rd Expo, held at the Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran, kicked off to a slow start on Tuesday and will close later today. 

The expo has so far only raked in $32.3 million, way below the total targetted volume of $220 million. 

Last year's event reaped $200 million. 

The organizing committee said 2,300 foreign buyers from 108 countries participated at the trade expo, which exhibits Indonesia's leading export products, including furniture, electronics, shoes, textiles and garments as well as commodities coffee, cocoa and rubber. 

"Perhaps more sales will take place today as it is the last day of the expo," chief expo organizer and head of the National Export Development Board Bachrul Chairi said. 

Furniture is still the highest generating product, raking a total of $8.1 million or 25.2 percent of the total transaction value to date. 

Mining products and crude palm oil follow second and third, each generating $7.3 million and $5.8 million.

Dirgantara Indonesia strikes Eurocopter deal worth $42m

The Jakarta Post, Tue, 10/21/2008 11:25 AM 

State aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) has signed a US$42 million contract to assemble components of Super Puma MKII helicopters for Eurocopter Indonesia, the local unit of helicopter maker Eurocopter Group. 

"The deal verifies the ability of DI as a competent partner in the aerospace business for the manufacturing of aircraft parts and components in Asia," said DI president director Budi Santoso after the contract signing Monday. 

The contract was signed by Budi and Henri Stell, president director of Eurocopter Indonesia, at the office of the state minister for state enterprises. 

"DI keeps expanding its market in the aerospace business. The deal confirms global demand as the Super Puma brand is among the most sold brands in the international market," said Budiman Saleh, DI aerostructure director. 

Under the deal, a series of training programs will take place between the two parties in the first three years, including a permanent posting of a Eurocopter team in Bandung, West Java. The Bandung posting, also the location of DI headquarters, will allow for technical assistance and the exchange of ideas and technology. 

The actual production process will start in 2011. 

Eurocopter is the world's number one helicopter manufacturer. Eurocopter's products account for 30 percent of the fleets across the globe. 

Dirgantara was founded in 1976 and provides aircraft design, development and assembly for commercial and military planes and spare parts. 

Among its partners, in addition to the Indonesian Air Force, are the U.S. Coast Guard and the governments of Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. -- JP/Olivia Dameria

Fluidcon to export road blockers to Middle East

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

PT Fluidcon Jaya, a consulting company for the mining, and oil and gas industries, as well as manufacturer of road blockers and oil and gas-related equipment, is set to export its latest product to several countries next year.

"We will send two high security system road blockers to a company in Iraq this month. Then, we will send 10 more road blockers there early next year," Fluidcon business development manager Widiantoro Nugroho said Saturday.

In addition, he said, the company would also export 27 road blockers to Thailand in 2008, with Afghanistan and Pakistan also being promising markets.

"We will focus on the international market, especially nations in the Middle East, as we know there is major demands for high security systems in that region," Widiantoro explained.

The company sees big potentials in the domestic market for its road blockers.

"There are many potential market segments here that we can avail of, such as embassies and airports," Widiantoro said. "So far, we've held talks with hotels in Bali about the installation of our security systems."

According to Widiantoro, the 2-5-meter-long road blockers are able to block vehicles weighing up to 20 tons at speeds of up to 60 kilometers per hour.

Road blockers, which cost between US$30,000 and $35,000, can be integrated with several other security systems, including finger-print scanning equipment and closed-circuit television, or CCTV.(ndr)

Lampung exports 249,728 tons of non-oil commodities to Pakistan

Bandarlampung, Lampung Province (ANTARA News) - Lampung province exported at least 249,728 tons of non-oil/non-gas commodities to Pakistan from January to July 2007, a local official said.

Lampung earned a total of US$20,360 in foreign exchange from the exports, Suparmo of the Lampung trade, industry and cooperatives office said here.

The exports had increased by 91.43 percent in value and by 93.05 tons in volume compared to the figures on the same period last year, he said.

Lampung exported among other things coal and sodium cyclamate to Pakistan. PT Bukit Asam Mining Company (PTBA) exported 37,873 tons of coal worth US$1.7 million, while PT Golden Sari exported sodium cyclamate amounting to 227 tons worth US$557,250 to Pakistan last July alone.

In addition to Pakistan, Lampung also exports non-oil/non-gas commodiies to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal, he said.