Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government is still considering whether it would raise its export duty on crude palm oil (CPO) following the hike in the retail price of cooking oil in the country to Rp8,000 per kilogram. "The rate of increase has yet to be set. We set the rate after evaluating the market operations currently being done by the producers. We hope however it would not have to be raised," director general of domestic trade Ardiansyah Parman said here on Friday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Implementation of the government`s oil-palm plantation revitalization program on 2 million hectares of land in 2007-2011 will require the employment of about 340,000 people, an Agriculture Ministry official said. Graduates of schools at elementary up to unversity level can apply for jobs in the program so long as they have a global concept, Ato Suprapto, head of the Agriculture Ministry`s human resources development division, said here Saturday.

Kuala Lumpur (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has agreed to a proposal by Malaysia to set up a bilateral economic commttee to handle the increasing flow of Malaysian investment funds to Indonesia.

Publicly listed retailer PT Mitra Adiperkasa (MAP), the local franchisee of a large number of major international brands, is expanding its high-end retail business by opening Jakarta's first outlet of upmarket Japanese department store, Seibu. The 27,000-square-meter Seibu store will open May 9 in the Grand Indonesia shopping center in Central Jakarta, and will be operated by MAP subsidiary PT Panen Selaras Intibuana.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The government asked industry to build factories in a gas-surplus area in order to ease energy fuel distribution to the industries. “Now it's time for industries to follow the energy, not vice versa,” said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, during the presentation, Jakarta, Friday (4/5).