British missions visiting Sulawesi

British missions visiting Sulawesi

JAKARTA: Two British trade delegations are visiting the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar to promote trade between the United Kingdom and Indonesia.

British ambassador Richard Gozney is leading a group representing British agribusiness companies to the town from Monday to Tuesday, while another group from the British Chamber of Commerce (Britcham) is visiting the town from Sunday to Tuesday, according to an embassy statement.

During a seminar on Monday, the British agribusiness firms gave presentations to assist small and medium enterprises engaged in agricultural production and packaging.

While on Tuesday, Britcham is to host a energy forum focusing on the utilization of small power technologies and carbon reduction.

A number of the British company representatives will then go on to visit other regions of Sulawesi and further agribusiness seminars will be held in Manado (Sept. 12-13) and Kendari (Sept. 16-17). -- JP

;AFP; ANPAf..r.. MoneyMatter-Japanese-Machinery Japanese machinery orders rise 1.9% JP/16/Money

Japanese machinery orders rise 1.9%

TOKYO: Japanese private sector machinery orders rose 1.9 percent in July from the previous month after growing 2.9 percent in June, the government said Monday.

On a year-on-year basis, orders excluding volatile shipbuilding and power generation equipment orders fell 5.8 percent in the month after dropping 7.6 percent in the previous month, the Cabinet Office said.

Machinery orders are considered a leading indicator of corporate capital spending.

Private-sector economists had forecast machinery orders would come in at between a rise of 1.9 percent and a fall of 5.2 percent month-on-month, with a consensus of a 2.0 percent decline.

Machinery orders from manufacturers rose 8.3 percent month-on- month while orders from non-manufacturers fell 1.9 percent from June, the Cabinet Office said. -- AFP

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Thailand's tourism arrivals up

BANGKOK: Bucking a global tourism downturn sparked by the September 11 attacks on the United States, Thailand is experiencing a surge in tourism numbers, a newspaper reported Monday.

The Land of Smiles hosted 5.36 million visitors in the first half of the year, a six percent increase on the same period last year prior to 9/11, the Nation newspaper cited tourism officials as saying.

"Thailand has had less of an impact than neighbouring countries," Juthamas Siriwan, the newly appointed governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), told the English-language daily.

The number of American tourists has declined by 3.6 percent in the period, but far less than the 30.14 percent plunge seen in Malaysia or the 14 percent drop in Australia, the newspaper said.

Juthamas also said there have been no reported cancellations from overseas tourists planning to come to Thailand on Wednesday, the first anniversary of the deadly attacks which rocked the global tourism industry. -- AFP

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KL industrial production increases

KUALA LUMPUR: Stronger demand for manufacturing exports helped push Malaysia's industrial production to 6.9 percent in July compared to the same month last year, the government said Monday.

The rise, which was at the top end of projections by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires, was fed by gains in all sectors but particularly manufacturing, which increased 8.1 percent on- year, the Department of Statistics reported.

Economists had been expecting the manufacturing sector to be boosted by a recovery in exports, which rose 15 percent to 31 billion ringgit (US$8.15 billion) in July.

Compared with June, the industrial production index - which includes the manufacturing, mining, and electricity sectors - registered a growth rate of 10.4 percent, a marked improvement over a 6.3 percent on-month decline in the previous month, the department said. -- AFP