Pontianak to host travel meeting

Pontianak to host travel meeting

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan: Pontianak, capital of Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, will host the 2nd travel exchange meeting of the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) on Sep. 6-9.

The meeting will not only involve the concerned countries but also 11 Indonesian provinces, said a statement issued by the provincial communication and information office here Thursday.

The Tourism Ministry's head for foreign cooperation, Yabes Tosia, said here Wednesday that foreign buyers outside the BIMP- EAGA would hopefully attend the international event as well.

The BIMP-EAGA, formed in March 1996, aims to increase trade, investment and tourism in the region.

Besides Brunei, the organization also covers Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua in Indonesia; Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan in Malaysia; and Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines. -- Antara

S'pore sends mission to Thailand

SINGAPORE: Forty-one Singapore companies will travel to Thailand next week seeking a share of the kingdom's booming auto industry, the government said Thursday.

International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), the government's trade body, said the 73 participants would market their expertise in electronics and precision engineering, and described the trip as the biggest ever Singaporean business mission to Thailand.

IE Singapore said local businesses are hoping to capitalize on Thailand's status as the vehicle assembly and export hub of Southeast Asia.

"Automotive Resources Asia claims that by 2006, Thailand will have 48 percent share of the total number of vehicles produced in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)," IE Singapore said.

IE Singapore said that despite the lack of automotive assembly activities in the city-state, Singapore had built up a highly competitive automotive support industry. -- AFP

Saudi to replace 17,800 foreigners

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is to replace 17,800 white-collar foreign workers with Saudis in a continuing "Saudization" of its labor force to reduce unemployment in the oil-rich Arab state, Saudi media said on Wednesday.

The lay-off include 16,204 employees from the public education sector, 854 from private education and 42 from the defense ministry, al-Watan newspaper said, adding the posts would be advertised for Saudis within days.

Most of the foreign workers will lose their right of residence when their contracts end and will have to leave the country within a month.

The government is trying to boost the numbers of jobs for Saudi nationals because of an unemployment rate estimated to be as high as 12 percent. Foreigners make up just over half of the national work force.

Analysts say oil revenues are increasingly unable to meet the needs of the more than 17 million Saudis. There are around six million expatriates in the kingdom.-- Reuters

S'pore key exports rise 18.7%

SINGAPORE: Singapore's key non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose 18.7 percent in June from a year ago, a better performance than expected and a significant rise from the previous month, officials said Thursday.

International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), the government's trade body, said the rise in June's NODX to S$1.19 billion (US$680 million) was influenced by strong growth in pharmaceuticals and a long-awaited pick-up in the electronics industry.

The June NODX growth was one of a series of government indicators released pointing to a pick-up in Singapore's economy after a long slump chiefly caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis.

IE Singapore predicted total trade growth for this year would be between four and six percent, up from 1.5 percent in 2002, with a further pick-up in electronics and chemical exports expected. -- AFP

HK jobless rate rises to new high

HONG KONG: Hong Kong's unemployment rate rose to a new high of 8.6 percent in the three months to June, reflecting the continued impact of SARS on the labor market, the government said Thursday.

It said unemployment rate rose from 8.3 percent in March-May, while the underemployment rate -- which counts people with jobs not paying enough to cover their basic needs -- increased to 4.3 percent from 3.8 percent for the same period.

A government spokesman said the increase in unemployment was again concentrated in the tourism and local consumption-related sectors, reflecting the continued impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) on the labor market.

Also, there was a marked rise in unemployment among younger people as fresh graduates and school leavers joined the labor force, the spokesman said. -- AFP