Indonesia, South Korea sign forestry agreement
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia and South Korea signed on Wednesday an agreement to continue cooperation in the forestry sector for the next two years.
The agreement was signed by director general of production forest utilization of the Ministry of Forestry Surachmanto Hutomo and South Korean Junior Minister of Forestry Shin Soon-woo.
It was the fifteenth forestry pact signed by the Indonesian and South Korean government since 1968, when they inked the first pact.
Under the agreement, Indonesia and Korea will cooperate in some projects including trees planting, investment in ecotourism, human resources training, illegal logging and forest fires fighting.
All the projects are expected to start later this year with financing from the South Korean government or private sector, Surachmanto said.
He explained that tree planting project would be jointly executed by state owned timber company PT Perhutani and PT Korintigahutani, a subsidiary of South Korea's Korindo Group, stating that the first would provide its plantation land, while the latter would inject funds.
"The project will cover 8,000 hectares at Perhutani's plantation in Karawang, West Java with the cost of Rp 5 million (US$438.6) per hectare or total about Rp 40 billion," he said after the signing ceremony.
He added the wood from the 8,000 hectare land would be supplied to Korindo's pulp and paper plant in Cileungsi, West Java.
According to a South Korean delegate, Kim Young-cheol, Korindo now operates a paper plant with the production capacity of 430,000 tons per year and it plans to invest US$30 million to build a pulp plant in the same location with the capacity of 100,000 tons per year.
Regarding ecotourism project contained in the agreement, Surachmanto said a South Korean company would invest to develop ecotourism in Pangkalan Bun, South Kalimantan.
He refused to name the company but Kim confirmed that the company in question was Kodeco or Korea Development Company Ltd..
However, Kim refused to specify the amount of the investment.
"The agreement indicates the very close relationship between two countries especially in the forestry sector," he said.
The South Korean junior minister said that the agreement would contribute to the forest conservation and sustainable development.
"It's also important to boost trade between two countries as Indonesia is the largest country in terms of Korea's timber products imports," he added. (05)