Int'l agro-research meeting on May 20

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Forestry will host a mid-term meeting of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which also oversees the Bogor-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Toga Silitonga, head of the ministry's Research and Development Agency, said the four-day meeting will start on May 20, when it will be officially opened by President Soeharto.

The meeting will focus on evaluating and assessing the organization's programs over the past year.

CGIAR, which involves both the government and private sector, studies ways to increase natural resources productivity, maintain biological diversity and accelerate and improve technology transfer in research methods.

Established in 1970, it oversees 17 research agencies, including CIFOR, the International Rice Research Institute and the International Center for Research in Agro-forestry.

Meanwhile, Silitonga explained that the decision to base CIFOR's headquarters in Bogor in 1992 has helped the government to be open on forestry issues.

"We have nothing to hide. Such a transparent policy is rare among developing countries, but it will remain our commitment," Silitonga said.

CIFOR's headquarters is located on 10 hectares of forest land and will be officially inaugurated by Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo on May 20.

CIFOR has research projects in the tropical rain forests of South America, Asia and Africa. In Indonesia, it conducts research on 300,000 hectares of forest area in the Kayan Mentarang region of East Kalimantan.

For the current (1996/97) fiscal year, the Ministry of Forestry has allocated US$500,000 to help CIFOR's operations: $200,000 is Indonesia's contribution to the agency, while $300,000 is to be used by local researchers and CIFOR scientists for study research methods. (pwn)