Minister visits Tunisia

JAKARTA (JP): Agriculture Minister Sjarifudin Baharsjah began talks yesterday in Tunis to promote Indonesian exports of agricultural commodities.

A ministry's spokesman said here yesterday the minister would be meeting officials of the Tunisian government agency that holds monopoly over the import of tea, coffee and sugar, and that country's sole tea distributor.

The minister is also scheduled to meet with officials of a private company, Compaigne des Phosphate de Gafsa, which is interested in developing a fertilizer plant in Gresik, East Java. The company has proposed a joint venture with the state-owned petrochemical industrial company PT Petrokimia Gresik to build the plant project with a designed capacity of 300,000 tons a year.

The minister is being accompanied by officials from state- owned estates, state-owned fertilizer company PT Pusri and state- owned petrochemical industrial company PT Petrokimia Gresik. (jsk)