Indonesia, Thailand plan barter deal

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government plans to establish a barter arrangement with the Thai government under which Indonesian railroad cars and ammonia would be swapped for Thai rice, Minister of Industry and Trade Rini M. Soewandi said on Monday.

Rini said that under the barter scheme, Thailand would send 200,000 tons of rice to Indonesia in exchange for 120 railroad cars and an unspecified volume of ammonia.

Amonia is the main chemical ingredient used in the production of urea fertilizer.

The railroad cars would be manufactured by state-owned railroad engineering firm PT INKA.

Rini did not, however, specify when the barter deal would take place.

"This barter scheme is still at the negotiating stage and is part of the efforts of each country to meet its needs and to develop better economic relations between the two countries," Rini was quoted by Antara as saying. -- JP