Jakarta prepares for APEC delegates, journalists
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is preparing a special information kit and packaged tours for delegates and journalists attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Jakarta and Bogor in November.
The information kit will carry information on Jakarta and its tourist resorts.
"We should exploit the visit of some 2,000 foreign journalists and participants to the fullest, shouldn't we?" Surjadi asked.
Surjadi said that the city administration saw the APEC conference as a good opportunity to introduce Jakarta to international communities.
The conference will be held in the scenic town of Bogor, 60 kilometers south of the city, and in Jakarta.
APEC members include Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Surjadi said Thursday that Jakarta will also hold a number of cultural activities for the conference's participants.
The city administration's programs, Surjadi said, will be coordinated with the Conference's organizing committee.
The City Tourism Office revealed last month that the agency would offer special packaged tours and hold a food festival for the participants of the biennial conference.
Fauzi Bowo, the head of the office, said that the social and cultural section of the conference organizing committee will cooperate with Jakarta tour operators's to organize the packaged tours.
The packaged tours, Fauzi said, will mainly consist of sporting activities such as fishing, scuba diving and golfing.
Restaurants at the four and five-star hotels where the participants will be staying, and other big restaurants in the city, also plan to hold international food festivals for the participants Fauzi said.
Press center
Foreign diplomats in Jakarta said earlier that they had already booked a number of five-star hotels to accommodate the thousands of delegates as well as the press corps who will cover the conference.
Some of the foreign press agencies have also prepared for the arrival of their fellow reporters who will help step up their coverage of the conference, one of the biggest international events held in Indonesia in over a decade.
An executive of the Jakarta chapter of Reuters told The Jakarta Post yesterday that some 40 reporters and a television crew from the British owned news agency will cover the summit.
"In addition to our staff here, 30 other people will come for the conference," he said, adding that a number of Reuters' White House correspondents will also visit Indonesia during the conference.
A staff member of Agence France Presse said that three photographers and eight reporters, besides four of its Jakarta based reporters and one White House correspondent, will cover the conference.
In a related development, Antara reported that the APEC press room will be installed at the Plenary Hall of the Jakarta Hilton Convention Center in Senayan, where the Non-Aligned Movement Summit was held two years ago.
It said that the press center will be equipped with telecommunication lines which will enable reporters to file their stories and pictures directly to their headquarters. (09/has)