Nigeria plans to buy Indonesian aircraft

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)