Australian rice aid

Australian rice aid

JAKARTA (JP): The Australian embassy announced on Wednesday
that the first of five Australian rice shipments has arrived in
Surabaya, East Java, as part of its humanitarian assistance
package to Indonesia.

The embassy said that 12,300 metric tons of Australian rice
would be shipped to Indonesia between now and the end of
February. The A$7 million (US$4.43 million) aid package is part
of Australia's contribution to the World Food Program (WFP),
which is helping victims of droughts and the economic crisis in
the country.

The rice donation is Australia's third major food aid effort
in Indonesia. The first was a food package airlifted to Irian
Jaya and the second was in August when Australian wheat worth
A$16 million was swapped for rice as part of the WFP emergency
assistance operations.

The embassy said that Australia, through the Australian Agency
for International Development (AusAID), has responded to
Indonesia's problems caused by drought and economic turmoil with
more than A$60 million in emergency aid. (gis)