Japanese businessmen here to seek out local products

Japanese businessmen here to seek out local products

JP/afs

JAKARTA (JP): A delegation of 20 Japanese manufacturers,
wholesalers, retailers and importers started a three-day mission
here on Tuesday to import more Indonesian products.

Members of the delegation, led by the vice president of the
"Do It Yourself" (DIY) Industry Association, Toyoji Miyakawa
(photo above, left), are to shop at the 1998 Indonesian Export
Products Exhibition at the Jakarta Fairground.

The exhibition is scheduled to be opened by President B.J.
Habibie on Wednesday. It will run through Sunday.

Miyakawa told journalists here that his delegation would
explore more opportunities with Indonesian exporters and help
them to market their products in Japan.

"I'm confident that more and more Indonesian products will be
able to enter the Japanese market," he told a press briefing.

At the briefing, Miyakawa was accompanied by (left to right)
interpreter Kumiko, the Japan External Trade Organization's
(JETRO) Jakarta chapter head Hiroaki Taneoka and DIY Industry
Association director Kenji Uemura.

Taneoka said the trade mission, sponsored by JETRO, reflected
Japan's continuing strong interest to trade with Indonesia.

Besides shopping at the exhibition, members of the mission are
also to meet Indonesian firms looking to export to Japan, he
said. JETRO was arranging such a meeting.

In a time of slumping domestic demand, Taneoka said, JETRO
would continue to assist Indonesian firms to export their
products to Japan.

As Japanese consumers were quality-minded, JETRO was helping
Indonesian firms improve the quality of their products through
technical assistance, he said.

Thus far, JETRO business advisors have been attached to some
90 Indonesian firms.

"Our main target is to help Indonesian firms increase their
export volume and boost the quality of export products," Taneoka
said. (29)