Indonesia to host agribusiness meet

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will be the first Asian country to host the annual congress of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IAMA).

The chairman of the congress' planning committee, Bungaran Saragih, said yesterday the four-day convention was being held here because Asia would one day dominate the world's food and farming industries.

"Asia is expected to be the major producer of food, agribusiness and fiber as its economies continue to grow rapidly," Saragih said.

Providing food would always be the main issue is Asia because a third of the world's people lived there, he said.

The convention, which will be held at the Shangri-La Hotel from June 23 to June 26, will be IAMA's seventh congress and focus on the global development of agribusiness, food and fiber in 2020.

Saragih said recent economic trends showed that by 2020 four Asian countries would be among the top six countries in the world economy with Indonesia coming fifth.

About 600 people from all over the world are expected to participate.

The event would help draw international attention to Indonesia's farming industry.

"We can prove that Indonesia can also be a major producer instead of only a market as it is commonly thought of now," he said.

He said the world congress was a good forum to exchange ideas and information about business and technology.

The head of the Indonesian Association of Agribusiness Management, Dudung Abdul Adjid, said the congress would help its members expand their networks with interest groups and business leaders.

This would help build trust in Indonesia's agribusiness and food industry, Dudung said.

IAMA was founded in 1990 by a group of U.S. academics. Businesspeople later joined and the association now has over 1,200 members in more than 70 countries.

The association's members include the world's leaders in the agribusiness and food industry, private and public corporation managers, academics, students and researchers.

Before Indonesia joined the association in 1994, it was concentrating mostly on big issues like regional and global cooperation.

But the association has shifted discussions toward small industry, he said. (02)