Indonesia and Australia sign tourism pact

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia and Australia signed a cooperation agreement yesterday to boost human resources development in both countries' tourist industries.

The agreement, effective for five years, was signed by the chairman of the Sectoral National Body for Hotels and Restaurants and the National Council for Vocational Education, Pontjo Sutowo; chairman of the National Council for Education and Training in Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, Willem Ch. Pangkerego; and chief executive officer of Tourism Training Australia, Bill Galvin.

Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave, who witnessed the signing together with visiting Australian Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs Amanda Vanstone, said that the cooperation is aimed at developing and implementing a fully integrated vocational education and training system for the hospitality and tourist industry in Indonesia.

The parties involving in the cooperation are also proposing to pursue the development of a project implementation plan which will include the initial phase of a pilot project to test operational requirements and better define the scope of the future work program. (icn)