Indonesia import deals continue, Australia says
Indonesia import deals continue, Australia says
CANBERRA (Dow Jones): Australia's Trade Minister Mark Vaile
said Tuesday that he hasn't heard of any contracts with
Australian exporters being canceled by Indonesia.
Vaile said he has seen a lot of comment, particularly in the
Indonesian press, by Indonesian importing organizations and
businesses about what they might do with contracts with
Australian exporters.
In particular, these press reports in the past several weeks
have indicated Australian wheat, cotton, sugar and dairy exports
to Indonesia will be cut.
Relations between Jakarta and Canberra are under strain over
the United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor.
"To date, there has been no evidence of any contracts that
have been canceled with Australian exporters," Vaile told
reporters.
The minister called for sensitivity and understanding of the
difficult domestic political circumstances in Indonesia ahead of
the presidential election Oct. 20.
He told of establishing new contacts in Indonesia after the
election.
Overall, Vaile said he remains "quite positive" about
Australia's trade links with Indonesia.
Tourism
Meanwhile, John Morse, chief executive of the Australian
Tourism Commission said Tuesday that the number of Indonesian
tourists to Australia was likely to fall in coming months,
In answer to a question at a National Press Club address,
Morse said there will certainly be a decline in the number of
Indonesian visitors, following a deterioration of relations
between the two countries over the East Timor crisis.
Morse said that two to three years ago, the commission had
real expectations that Indonesia would become Australia's largest
inbound tourism market from Asia.
"But with the economic situation and the latest political
situation, that's clearly not going to happen," he said.
However, he added that the local tourism industry probably
won't suffer significantly from any fall in tourist numbers from
Indonesia, as the industry has never relied on just one market.
Many other Asian countries, along with Europe and North
America, are showing strong tourism growth to Australia, he said.
"This country can withstand quite adequately any drop-off in
business from Indonesia," he said.
The government's Bureau of Statistics reported Monday that the
number of tourists from Indonesia in the first eight months of
1999 rose 11 percent to 67,600, from 60,700 in the same period
last year.
Total short-term visitor arrivals to Australia in the first
eight months of 1999 totaled 2.83 million, up from 2.66 million
in the year-earlier period.
Visitors to Australia from Indonesia peaked in calendar 1997
at 160,400, but slumped sharply to 93,000 in 1998 because of the
regional economic downturn, the bureau said.