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)