Chinese province holds trade exhibition here

JAKARTA (JP): A business delegation representing 28 companies from the Chinese province of Zhejiang has arrived here to promote trade with Indonesia.

Delegation head Jianshe Te said over the weekend the 90-strong delegation was searching for business partners in Indonesia to sell their products.

The delegation would display about 1,000 items at an exhibition scheduled at the Jakarta Hilton Convention Center from April 2 to 5.

The products that would be exhibited include handicrafts, silk products, gardening equipment, electronic and chemical goods.

Through the exhibition, Chinese businessmen hoped that they would find potential distributors for their products, Te was quoted by Antara as saying.

Zhejiang, an Eastern coastal province bounded by the South China Sea, is one of the most prosperous provinces in China.

The province is renowned for farming and tea. It ranks high in silkworm raising, and has a thriving fishing industry, a developed aqua-culture industry, and a flourishing handicraft industry in rural villages. It also produces machinery, electronics and petrochemicals.

The province has forged trade relations with 170 countries with total export and import value reaching US$1.3 billion.

Managing director PT Peraga Nusantara, which organized the exhibition, Hengky Irawan, said Indonesia and the province had a lot of opportunities to boost ties as both of them complement each other in various sectors.

Hengky said Zhejiang exported household utensils, machinery, electronic and chemical goods to Indonesia and imported oil, plywood and fertilizer from Indonesia.

Two-way trade between the province and Indonesia amounted to US$400 million over the past two years, $250 million of which was the amount of Zhejiang's exports to Indonesia, said Hengky.

Figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics show two-way trade between China and Indonesia reached $3.23 billion in 1995 with a surplus of $236 million in Indonesia. (jsk)