Indonesia to host agribusiness meet

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)