Expo organizers ask govt to ease licensing procedures

JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Indonesia Trade Exhibition Promoters (Asperapi) appealed to the government on Wednesday to simplify the licensing procedures for holding trade fairs and exhibitions in the country.

The association's chairman Herman Wiriadipoera said that the existing procedures for obtaining exhibition permits were too complicated.

Herman said that trade exhibition organizers were required to obtain two kinds of licenses from the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The first license, which is called a provisional permit, is issued as an initial approval for the holding of a trade fair or exhibition. The second permit, called a definitive permit, is issued only after the organizer completes all the preparations, including the list of confirmed participants.

"The existing procedures do not only waste time but also encourage red tape because exhibition organizers have to make illegal payments to speed up the licensing process," said an association member, who refused to be named.

He explained that obtaining a final permit was much more complicated and time consuming than a provisional one because the issuance of the permit involved a number of government institutions such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Police, the relevant regional police force, and the National Intelligence Agency, the executive said.

Herman asserted that exhibition organizers should only be required to obtain one permit and that the issuance of this permit should be handled solely by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Asperapi had 250 members all over Indonesia at the end of 2000, with eight chapters in eight major provinces. The association plans to establish more chapters in North Sulawesi, Riau, East Kalimantan and West Sumatera.

Herman said the association's members held 116 exhibitions in 2000, while this year they planned to organize 178 exhibitions, 15 percent of which would involve international participation.

The number of exhibitions dropped from approximately 180 to 31 in 1998 due to the economic mayhem at that time, but the number started to rebound in 1999 with 68 exhibitions.

He also said that revenues from this year's exhibitions would reach Rp 700 billion, excluding hotel and transportation expenses as well as the value of transactions conducted during the exhibitions.(05)