Nigeria plans to buy Indonesian aircraft

JAKARTA (JP): The Nigerian government has made a firm commitment to purchase aircraft from the state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia, Indonesia's Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut Pandjaitan said here on Saturday.

Luhut said that the Nigerian government had allocated about US$100 million for the deal with Bandung-based Dirgantara, formerly known as PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN).

The deal is a component of bilateral cooperation agreements signed by President Abdurrahman Wahid during his visit to Nigeria in March, the minister said.

"The deal will be concluded during the visit of Nigerian president Elusegun Obasanjo to Bandung on June 2," the minister said, adding that the Nigerian leader would visit Indonesia to attend the summit meeting of the group of 15 developing countries (G-15) on May 30.

Luhut, however, did not disclose the number of airplanes Nigeria planned to buy from Dirgantara.

Meanwhile, Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Alfons Doodoh said that the Nigerian government preferred to procure planes from Dirgantara because the size of its planes were suitable for the country's air transportation system.

"Next week's purchase is just the beginning ... we plan to buy more from here," he said on the sidelines of the preparatory meeting for the G-15 forum.

Doodoh said that the delegation of Nigerian businesspeople planned to buy textiles from Texmaco, as well as electronics and farming products from other local companies. (05)