Bali to host meeting of CFC council

Bali to host meeting of CFC council

JAKARTA (JP): The governing council of the Common Fund for
Commodities (CFC), a United Nations' finance institution for
commodities, will hold their annual meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali
next week.

Director General of Foreign Economic Relations Soemadi DM
Brotodiningrat said that the three-day assembly, which would open
Sunday, would discuss commodity projects to be financed by the
CFC.

The meeting would study ways to increase CFC's function and
role in the future and develop its action plans for the next five
years, he said.

"The assembly also will aim to reevaluate CFC's projects and
to discuss its upcoming projects," Soemadi said.

Soemadi, who was appointed as head of the governing council
for the 1997 period at last year's assembly in Marrakesh,
Morocco, said that this year's assembly was scheduled to be
opened by Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah.

CFC, established in 1989, is designed to assist the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in
implementing its integrated program for commodities.

CFC currently has 105 members, including 20 from Europe, and
concentrates its activities in helping developing countries to
promote their commodities.

The assembly will also feature a one-day seminar on "Commodity
Development and Market Expansion", and an exhibition on
Indonesian commodities, which will be attended by various
commodity associations, state-owned companies and private
companies. (gis)