Three million visitors will visit Jakarta Fair

JAKARTA (JP): The organizers of the Jakarta Fair are hoping that three million people will visit this year's annual event scheduled from June 15 to July 14 at the Jakarta Fairground in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta. The admission price has been set at Rp 1,500.

However, the president of PT Jakarta International Trade Fair Corporation, Soekarjo H, admitted yesterday that the target will be difficult to achieve given the fact the number of people visiting the fair has decreased over the past 10 years.

He said the number of visitors to the 1995 fair was 1.95 million, compared to 2.26 million in 1994, when Rp 32 billion in transactions were recorded.

Soekarjo blamed incessant rains for the decrease in the number of people visiting last year's fair.

Vice President Try Sutrisno is expected to open this year's fair with the theme "Development, Progress and Social Welfare."

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said two weeks ago that President Soeharto will probably not open the fair as originally planned due to the demise of Mrs. Tien Soeharto on Sunday.

More than 1,300 agencies and business enterprises have signed up to take part in the fair. Singapore, Germany, Taiwan, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, the United States, Hong Kong, China, Iran and South Korea are among the foreign participants.

The fair will be open on weekdays from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.

The opening ceremony will feature various cultural and musical attractions.

The fair has scheduled a festival of fireworks, pop music, a Qasidah (traditional Islamic music) contest, seminars, a writing contest and various sports events such as a bike ride and a walkathon.

An internationally acclaimed trapeze company, Les Arts Sauts from France, will be one of the highlights, while a local circus troupe will perform for free from June 18-June 22. (bas)