RI business mission to hold expo in Pakistan

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will send a trade and cultural mission to Pakistan and hold a product exhibition in Karachi between Sept. 12 and Sept. 16.

"The mission and expo are aimed at improving bilateral trade relations as well as promoting Indonesian products and tourism to Pakistan, which is a gateway to South Asia," the executive chairman of the chamber's Middle East committee, Muchrim Hakim, said yesterday.

The mission, organized in cooperation with the Center for Information and Development Studies, will be chaired by Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Azwar Anas.

Pakistani Ambassador Mustafa Kamal Kazi said companies from the two countries have signed 23 memorandums of understanding on projects worth US$2 billion.

The memorandums, signed during the visit in March of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, include one on the sale of 19 Indonesian aircraft to Pakistan. Indonesia will buy trainer jets and other military aircraft from Pakistan.

Bhutto brought along 80 businesspeople on her three-day visit to Indonesia in March.

The ambassador said two-way trade between Indonesia and Pakistan is expected to increase by more than 50 percent this year from its 1995 level of $200 million.(kod)