Dutch firms in showcase

Dutch firms in showcase

JAKARTA (JP): A Netherlands trade mission representing 34
horticulture and livestock companies will arrive here this
weekend to hold a four-day agribusiness exhibition, seminar and
workshop, an executive said.

Director of the Indonesian Netherlands Association (INA) Chris
Smith told reporters here yesterday that the firms will look for
Indonesian partners to establish joint ventures or cooperations
with during the event, entitled Holland Agro 1994, that will
start on Tuesday at the Le Meridien and Sahid Jaya hotels.

He said the companies will offer a transfer of technologies in
the horticulture and livestock industry, especially poultry.

The Holland Agro 1994 is the second expo of its kind. The
association held the first last year.

Smith said the Dutch companies will exhibit their products,
equipment and technologies, as they are eager to establish
cooperation with Indonesian partners in various areas, including
the development of poultry projects and the production of poultry
equipment, poultry breeding stocks and equipment for poultry
processing.

Chris said that at the planned seminar, experts from the
Netherlands and Indonesia will discuss the world poultry market,
modern poultry industry and the importance of high quality seeds
for horticulture.(02)

Sabang port dedicated

JAKARTA (JP): A new terminal and an expansion of the berthing
facility at the Sabang port in Aceh, northern Sumatra, were
dedicated by Aceh Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud, yesterday.

The projects were designed to support the establishment of a
triangle of growth involving Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Mahmud was quoted yesterday by Antara as saying that the
construction of the terminal and expansion of the port cost Rp
1.14 billion (US$529,500).

Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to establish a
triangle of growth to improve economic cooperation among their
adjacent provinces and states.(09)

RI, Myanmar to cooperate

BANGKOK (Reuter): An Indonesian government delegation now
visiting Myanmar has offered to cooperate with Myanmar in various
fields, including development of Myanmar's hotel sector,
Myanmar's state-run television reported.

The television, in a broadcast monitored in Bangkok late on
Wednesday, said three Indonesian ministers arrived in Yangon
earlier in the day and were welcomed by Myanmarese leaders.

The Indonesian delegation is led by Coordinating Minister for
Industry and Trade Hartarto and includes Minister of Tourism,
Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave and Minister of Transport
Haryanto Dhanutirto.

Among the Myanmarese leaders who met the Indonesians were
junta chief General Than Shwe, military intelligence chief
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw.

Joop Ave told Myanmar's minister of hotels and tourism, Major-
General Kyaw Ba, that Indonesia was ready to accept trainees from
Myanmar to study hotel management and related services, the
television said.

German minister due here

BONN (AFP): Foreign Development Minister Carl-Dieter Spranger
will visit Indonesia during his 11-day tour to three Asian
countries, which also include Vietnam and Malaysia, for talks on
aid and to study the impact of German aid so far.

Spranger, who left here Wednesday, said his tour underlined
the importance the German government accords to Asia.

Vietnam has benefited from federal German aid totaling 148
million marks since 1990, his ministry said. Vietnamese workers
sent to the former East Germany have also received aid for their
repatriation since German reunification.

The Bonn government took over aid projects in Vietnam
initiated by the defunct communist state for electrification,
agriculture and training.

In Malaysia, which since 1973 has received only technical aid
from Germany, and in Indonesia, one of Bonn's leading aid
recipients in Asia, Spranger's visit will be concerned with the
preservation of tropical forest, the development ministry said.

U.S. aid plan approved

WASHINGTON (AFP): U.S. lawmakers voted to approve a US$13.6-
billion foreign aid package Wednesday, bucking angry dissent over
how much aid Russia and South Africa should get.

The House of Representatives adopted the legislation in a 337
to 87 vote. Top recipients of aid as in past years were Israel,
at $3 billion, and Egypt, at $2.1 billion.

Debate flared into heated confrontation over the amount of aid
the United States should send to Russia and South Africa.

Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican argued South African funding
should have been frozen at its present $80-million level. He said
he objected to members of the new South African government having
ties to the communist party.

Representatives shot down his amendment to limit the funds and
approved an increase to $140 million, in addition to $50 million
to insure U.S. investments in South Africa.

Funds for former Soviet republics also survived a cutback
attempt, with the House appropriating a total $875.5 million
instead of $552 million.

German rates unchanged

FRANKFURT (Reuter): The Bundesbank said it had left its
leading rates unchanged after a council meeting yesterday.

Analysts had not expected a cut in the discount or Lombard
rates, the respective floor and ceiling to German money market
rates. The Bundesbank had cut 50 basis points off both on May 13,
bringing them down to 4.50 and six percent, respectively.

RP to build oil refinery

MANILA (AFP): Thai Petrochemical Industry Co. Ltd. of Thailand
and a local partner has obtained government incentives to set up
a US$240 million refinery in the southern Philippines, the Board
of Investment (BOI) said yesterday.

Thai Petrochemical and ChemHoldings Corp. have proposed
setting up a plant with an annual capacity of 21.45 million
barrels in Surigao del Norte province, BOI documents show.

The proposed project, operational in September 1996, would
produce refined petroleum products. Only state-controlled Petron
Corp. and the local subsidiaries of Caltex Petroleum Corp. and
the Royal Dutch Shell Group now operate refineries in the
Philippines.

The BOI said it has granted pioneering status to the refinery
project, which entitles it to an income tax holiday for a number
of years and duty-free imports of capital equipment.

Thai Petrochemical would take a 40 percent equity and
ChemHoldings 60 percent in the project, which would be financed
with 60 percent equity and the rest with loans, the BOI said.

The pair are also partners of a consortium which is in the
process of setting up a US$130 million polypropylene plant west
of Manila.

Taiwan capital in China

TAIPEI (Reuter): Taiwanese investment in China is beginning to
show signs of slowing down.

Taiwan's Investment Commission approved 105 applications for
new or additional investments in China worth US$67 million in
April, down from 433 applications worth US$174 million a year
earlier, commission spokesman Huang Ching-tang said yesterday.

In the first four months of this year, the commission approved
419 applications, down from 501 for the same period in 1993,
though their value rose to US$313 million from US$281 million.

Huang attributed lower investment willingness to inflation and
credit tightening measures adopted by China last year.

He said actual investment in China from January to April was
smaller than the figures indicated because some of the
applications were filed by companies belatedly seeking government
approval for investments already made.