Jakarta to host philately expo

Jakarta to host philately expo

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will host the Asian International
Philately exhibition, from Aug. 19 to Aug. 25, Director General
of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria Purawidjaja said.

He said on Monday that 44 countries, including Hong Kong,
Taiwan, India, Iran, Japan, Kuwait, South Korea, Mongolia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Turkey, Nepal, Papua
New Guinea and Egypt, will participate in the expo which, will be
held at the Jakarta Fairgrounds, Kemayoran.

Other countries, which will participate in the event, include
Fiji, the United States, Hungary, the Netherlands, Canada,
Brazil, Kiribati, Britain, Germany, Swede, Spain, France and New
Zealand.

"Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is scheduled to visit the
exhibition on Aug. 22," he said.

He said that the event is expected to help raise the number of
Indonesian philatelists because the figure is far below those of
other Asian counties.

"The number of philatelists in Indonesia reached only 5,000 in
1987 and increased to some 225,000 in June this year. Ideally the
rate is about one percent of the total population," he said.

Indonesia's population, according to existing data, is about
180 million. (icn)