Ministry lifts ban on chemical
Ministry lifts ban on chemical
JAKARTA: The Minister of Industry and Trade has issued a decree allowing the import of 4 chloro-3 and 5-dimethylphenol (PCMX), two chemical substances required for soap production.
The Decree No. 417/2003 annuls a previous ministerial decree outlawing the import of the two substances.
"The substances have been used widely in 63 countries in the world including Indonesia, and therefore we see no reasons for maintaining the import ban," director of import at the Ministry of Industry and Trade Aang Adikusumah told reporters here on Tuesday.
However, he said that only importer producers recognized by the directorate general of foreign trade at the Ministry of Industry and Trade could import the substances.
"This way, we can be assured that PCMX will be used by purveyors only for producing soap and not for further trading," he said.
The new decree took effect on June 17. -- Antara
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China outlook gloomier: Jetro
TOKYO: Japanese companies operating in the greater China area became more pessimistic over the region's near-term business outlook in June due to fears about the impact of the SARS outbreak, a trade organization said Tuesday.
Japanese companies and affiliates doing business in Asia overall also were generally more negative about current economic conditions in the region, the Japan External Trade Organization, or JETRO, said in a survey.
"In all five ASEAN countries, sentiment is worse compared to the previous month," said the group, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nation countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
"In addition, with the exception of Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, the outlook for the next two to three months is heading down, and particularly sharply in China and North Asia," JETRO said. The group classifies Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea as 'North Asia'. -- Dow Jones
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ADB drafting emergency policy
MANILA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is drafting a "comprehensive emergency policy" to deal with the problems of strife-torn member-countries like Afghanistan, the bank said Tuesday.
In its annual report for 2002, the bank said that this new policy would address "key gaps and limitations" that the ADB has discovered in its review of its experiences in lending to countries still emerging from violent conflicts.
This group includes Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and East Timor, the Manila-based bank said.
It did not say when the bank would come out with the policy.
The bank's 61 member countries and territories are to hold a one-day annual meeting in Manila on June 30. Earlier plans to hold the meeting in Turkey in May were called off due to the war in neighboring Iraq.
Among the limitations found by the ADB review were "the failure to fully address critical issues such as sustainable livelihoods, weak governance, institutional capacity and human and social depletion." -- AFP
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RP to drop up to 8,000 govt workers
MANILA: Up to 8,000 government workers are to be pensioned off this year as part of a plan to trim the million plus-strong Philippines bureaucracy, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin said Tuesday.
Manila plans to convince between 6,000 and 8,000 civil servants to agree to a voluntary retirement program this year that will cost the government 10 billion pesos (US$188 million), she said on ABS-CBN television.
However, no government agencies will be abolished and the government is not ruling out hiring in other agencies that need additional staffing, Boncodin said.
"The more important thing here is that we are able to rationalize (government) functions," she said.
She said a trimmer bureaucracy could save the government between six and seven billion pesos ($113-$131 million) annually. -- AFP