Indonesia. Indonesia on Wednesday launched a giant project to create a $5 billion agricultural estate spanning three districts in Papua. The Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate program is the latest attempt by the government to gain self-sufficiency in food production, with a longer-term goal of someday becoming a food-exporting nation. At a ceremony held in Merauke district on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Suswono said he expected that the area would become the nation’s bread basket.

Jakarta. The government is planning to pour Rp 22 trillion ($2.46 billion) into expanding the Tanjung Priok port in a bid to speed up the movement of goods. “We will expand the port with four more terminals and hope the groundbreaking on the first one will happen by the end of this year,” Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said on Wednesday. The expansion is expected to take five or six years.