Wed, 29 Jul 2009

From: The Jakarta Post

By Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau Islands
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) will stage an expo on small and medium enterprises from eight Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries in Batam from July 30 to Aug. 2.

Head of the Batam branch of Kadin, Nada Faza Soraya, said Tuesday that business players from the ASEAN countries - Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines - had confirmed they will participate in the four-day event.

“They will occupy a few stands to display their handicraft products during the exhibition,” Nada said.

At last year’s event, the stalls generated Rp 2.1 billion (US$ 210,000) in total sales during the three-day period, she said.

“I expect we will be able to bring in three times that this year due to an increase in the number of participants,” she said.

Indonesian businessmen could make use of the expo to promote their products and meet directly with potential buyers, she said.

“We are hoping to no longer use third parties to sell products.”