[Kabar-indonesia] 18 RI Biz/Econ Reports: Genting; Indofood; JSX, Rupiah Gain; Bonds; Textiles

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

18 RI Biz/Econ Reports:

- Indonesian Minister: Genting Keen To
  Buy 1M Hectares Land
- JPMorgan ups Indofood's target price to
  1,260 rph/shr
- Jakarta shares rise on gains in Bank 
  Mandiri; Rupiah up at 9,085
- Indonesia to swap rupiah govt bonds
  on Tuesday
- RI 2 trln rupiah retail bond offer likely 
  to be oversubscribed - official
- Indonesia's textile exports climb 
  7.3 pct in five months
- Krispy Kreme says firm to open 
  shops in Indonesia
- Indonesia's Bank Mandiri, Argo expect to
  sign debt restructure deal today-report
- Stockwatch - Indonesia Bank Mandiri 
  sharply higher on debt restructuring report
- Indonesia's Bank Muamalat set to
  reach 50% growth target
- Indonesia seeks Malaysia investments in
  special economic zones - report
- Indonesia's Sari Husada H1 net profit
  159 bln rupiah, up 5 pct yr-on-yr
- Honda motorcycle launches first
  scooter in Indonesia
- JP: RNI seeking partners to jointly
  produce ethanol
- Indonesia's Padang city to build
  beach resort
- Indonesia palm oil market players
  take to sidelines
- Asian Rubber Futures Settle Dn
  On Weak Sentiment;1-Wk Low
- S Africa offers N Sumatra co-op in
  education, tourism

Indonesian Minister: Genting Keen To Buy 1M Hectares Land

KUALA LUMPUR, August 4 (Dow Jones)--Malaysia's Genting Bhd. 
is keen to buy 1 million hectares of land in neighboring Indonesia to
develop a biofuel venture, Indonesia's Minister of Energy and Mineral
Resources, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, said Friday.

"Genting has said it would take 1 million hectares minimum...Their
focus is palm oil and sugarcane," Purnomo told reporters after meeting
businessmen in the Malaysian capital.

Diversified Genting controls plantations company Asiatic Development
Bhd. (2291.KU) and has fast-growing investments in oil and gas
exploration and power generation.

"They (Genting) are going to move to further discussions with the
government," Purnomo said.

Officials from Genting were not immediately available for comment.

He said Indonesia plans to set aside 6 million hectares of land for
development of the biofuel industry by 2009 to 2010.

Purnomo said other Malaysian companies such as Sime Darby Bhd.
(4197.KU) and government investment firm Khazanah Nasional Bhd. 
have also met with Indonesian officials, and expressed interest to invest
in his country.

"Some of them are concrete in expressing their interest in biofuel," 
he said.

Malaysia and Indonesia recently agreed to limit the use of palm oil
for biofuel to 6 million metric tons each due to fears of a shortage
of the vegetable oil in future for food.

Malaysia is the world's biggest producer of palm oil, with an annual
output of about 15 million metric tons, while Indonesia is a close
second.

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JPMorgan ups Indofood's target price to 1,260 rph/shr

JAKARTA, August 4 (Reuters) - JPMorgan has raised its 12-month target
price of PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk to 1,260 rupiah ($0.139) per
share from 1,160 rupiah previously, the brokerage said late on
Thursday.

JPMorgan said a price war between Indofood, the world's largest
instant noodle maker, and its key rival, Wings Group, appeared to be
over, which prompted the revision of the target price.

------------------------------------

Jakarta shares rise on gains in Bank Mandiri 

JAKARTA, Aug. 4 (AP): Indonesian shares rose Friday led by gains in Bank 
Mandiri due to expectations of solid 2006 earnings and a lower interest rate 
outlook.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite index ended up 9.638 points, or 0.7 
percent, at 1,389.353.

Gainers led decliners 67 to 30, with 82 stocks unchanged. The local currency, 
the rupiah, also ended higher as offshore funds bought Indonesian shares in 
anticipation of an interest rate cut expected next week.

The dollar closed at Rp 9,085, down from its close Thursday at Rp 9,108.

State-owned Bank Mandiri, the nation's largest lender by assets, rose 5.9 
percent to Rp 1,980 on expectations that lower interest rates will help boost the 
bank's net interest margin.

Expectations for a lower interest rate also spurred buying in car distributor 
Astra International, which rose 2.9 percent to Rp10,500. Lower interest rates 
would encourage consumers to tap bank loans to buy vehicles.

Meanwhile, bellwether Telekomunikasi Indonesia rose 1.3 percent to Rp 7,900 
on expectations of solid 2006 earnings due to an increase in revenue from 
cellular, multimedia and Internet services.

On the downside, gas distributor Gas Negara dropped 1.7 percent to Rp 11,700 
on renewed fears that the government won't be able to sell a 5.31 percent 
stake in the company at premium because of an unfavorable economic situation. 

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Indonesia to swap rupiah govt bonds on Tuesday

JAKARTA, August 4 (Reuters) - Indonesia will offer holders of
2007-2009 rupiah-denominated government bonds the chance to switch to
15-year debt on Tuesday, part of efforts to smooth out repayment
schedules, the finance ministry said.

The finance ministry's head of debt management, Rahmat Waluyanto, told
reporters investors will be able to switch bonds maturing between
2007-2009 into 15-year debt FR0034 <IDGBFR0034=SU>.

Analysts see healthy demand for longer-term debt on expectations that
high interest rates will fall this year.

The central bank is scheduled to review its rate policy on Aug. 8,
with most analysts expecting it to further cut the rate as the impact
of fuel price rises last October fades.

One attraction of Indonesian bonds for foreign investors is that they
offer among Asia's highest yields and prices can rise if central bank
rates come down.

Ratings agencies rate Indonesian bonds below investment grade, or as
junk bonds. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, for example, rates
long-term Indonesian local currency government bonds "BB+" -- one
notch below investment grade.

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Indonesia 2 trln rupiah retail bond 
offer likely to be oversubscribed - official

JAKARTA, August 4 (XFN-ASIA) - The government said its first retail
bond offering worth 2 trln rupiah to finance its budget deficit is
likely to be oversubscribed, based on reports from sales agents, a
director at the Ministry of Finance said.

The bonds, referred to as ORI-001, carry a coupon of 12.05 pct and
will mature on Aug 9, 2009.

"The retail bond selling agents have expressed their optimism that the
indicative target will be met. As of August 3rd, retail bonds sales
have exceeded the indicative target of 2 trln rupiah, or even close to
3 trln," Rahmat Waluyanto, director at the ministry's directorate of
treasury bond management, said.

He said the total order for the retail bonds will be announced
officially by the government after the settlement date on August 9.

Waluyanto said that achieving the target is not the only goal for
issuing the bonds, but also to build a strong retail investor base in
Indonesia.

"We want to change the general public mindset from a saving society
into an 'investment' society. Therefore the development of the
country's economy can be optimized as it is based on maximizing the
society's assets," he said.

"There are indications that the retail bond sales are oversubscribed.
This is encouraging because this is the first retail bond sold by the
government," Mulia Nasution, director General of Treasury, said,
adding that the government may absorb all the orders.

ORI sales agents comprise three brokerages and eight banks. They are
PT Trimegah Sekuritas, PT Danareksa Sekuritas, PT Valbury Asia
Securities, PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Bukopin, PT Bank Permata, PT Bank
Mega, Citibank, PT Bank NISP, PT Bank Danamon Indonesia and PT Bank
Panin.

-------------------------------------

Indonesia's textile exports climb 7.3 pct in five months

JAKARTA, August 4 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - The country's exports of
textiles and garments rose 7.3 per cent to US$3.65 billion in the
first 5 months of this year compared with the same period last year,
the textile association (API) said.

API executive secretary Ernovian G. Ismy said the increase was the
highest for January-May period since 2004.

Ismy said the country's exports of textiles and garments have tended
to increase to the United States and Japan after the abolition of the
export quota in 2005, but exports to the European Union have
fluctuated.

The United States has remained the largest buyer of Indonesian
textiles accounting for 30 per cent of the country's exports.

Exports to the United States have increased following its imposition
of supply quotas on Chinese textiles, he said.

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Krispy Kreme says firm to open shops in Indonesia

CHICAGO, August 4 (Reuters) - Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. on Friday
said it has awarded rights to develop its doughnut shops in Indonesia
to PT Premier Doughnut Indonesia, which plans to open 20 shops over
the next five years.

Krispy Kreme said it would not hold an ownership stake in the franchise.

Krispy Kreme said that PT Premier, which is principally owned by PT
MAP Premier Indonesia, expects to open its first location by September
2006.

------------------------------------

Indonesia's Bank Mandiri, Argo expect to sign 
debt restructure deal today-report

JAKARTA, August 4 (XFN-ASIA) - Bank Mandiri and textile maker Argo
Manunggal Group plan to sign today an agreement on the restructure of
2.3 trln rupiah worth of debt owed by Argo to the bank, Bisnis
Indonesia reported.

"The Argo Group has shown goodwill to settle its debts so hopefully,
the preliminary debt restructuring agreement can be signed (today),"
the report quoted Mandiri official, Tardi, as saying.

Previously Argo said it would sell some assets to settle part of its
outstanding debt to the bank while proposing the rescheduling of
another portion.

Argo's debt is owed by subsidiaries, including 826.19 bln rupiah owed
by PT Argo Pantes and 615.39 bln rupiah by Alfa Goldland Realty.

The report also quoted an unnamed source as saying that another debtor
of Bank Mandiri, Domba Mas Group will soon settle its liabilities
worth 1.99 trln rupiah.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Stockwatch - Indonesia Bank Mandiri sharply 
higher on debt restructuring report

JAKARTA, August 4 (XFN-ASIA) - PT Bank Mandiri was sharply higher in
midmorning trade on a report that the bank and one of its large
debtors, Argo Manunggal Group, plan to sign a preliminary agreement on
the restructuring of the group's 2.3 trln rupiah debt to the bank,
dealers said.

Bank Mandiri was up 70 rupiah or 3.74 pct at 1,940.

The composite index was up 8.682 points at 1,388.397.

A Bank Mandiri official said earlier that the Argo Group has shown
goodwill in settling its debts and expects to sign a preliminary debt
restructuring agreement soon.

"It is true that there is a plan to sign a preliminary agreement on
restructuring Argo Group's debts. The preliminary agreement is
basically for the debtor to show its commitment to settling its
debts," the bank's corporate secretary Ekoputro Adijayanto told
XFN-Asia.

He said the planned signing could be done either today or sometime in
the next few days.

"It is an internal process between the bank and the debtor," Adijayanto added.

A dealer with a local brokerage said sentiment on Bank Mandiri was
buoyed by the report that it will soon sign a preliminary agreement to
restructure Argo Manunggal's debt.

The report, carried by Bisnis Indonesia, also quoted an unnamed source
as saying that another debtor of Bank Mandiri, Domba Mas Group will
soon settle its liabilities worth 1.99 trln rupiah.

"The restructuring of the debts should improve Bank Mandiri's credit
quality and its non-performing loan ratio," the local brokerage dealer
said.

He said investors appear to continue showing interest in banking
stocks on hopes of a further cut in domestic interest rates following
the release of better-than-expected July CPI data, at 0.45 pct, which
is below analysts expectations.

Adijayanto of Bank Mandiri, according to the newspaper report, added
that Argo Manunggal's debts will be settled through two options --
asset settlement or rescheduling of sustained debts.

"The rescheduling includes a new time-line for debt payment and an
increase in installments," he said.

"The two options have been agreed on in principle by the two parties," he 
said.

Adijayanto said the restructuring of the debtors' loans will certainly
improve Bank Mandiri's credit quality, as well as its bottom-line as
it will allow the bank to convert the provisions into revenues.

"We're confident that we can reduce the NPL ratio to 5 pct by 2007 as
required by Bank Indonesia from 24-25 pct at present," Adijayanto
said.

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Indonesia's Bank Muamalat set to reach 50% growth target

JAKARTA, August 4 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - The country's first Islamic
bank, Bank Muamalat, said it is optimistic that it will reach its
growth target of 50 per cent this year despite most large conventional
banks having revised down their targets.

Muamalat President A Riawan Amin said setback in macro economic
condition will not significantly affect the performance of sharia
banks.

Amin said the bank will not revise its pre tax profit target of Rp239
billion (US$26.5 million) this year.

He said the market is still wide open for sharia banks in the country,
while it will be difficult for conventional bank to expand under the
present condition.

He said his bank will open new branch offices in Ambon, Kupang and Jayapura.

The bank, which started operation in the country in 1991 posted assets
valued at Rp7.6 trillion by June, 2006 up from Rp959.93 billion by the
end of last year.

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Indonesia seeks Malaysia investments in special economic zones - report

KUALA LUMPUR, August 4 (XFN-ASIA) - Indonesian President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono invited Malaysian businesses to invest in the
country's special economic zones, offering opportunities in energy,
housing and electricity, Bernama News Agency reported.

Yudhoyono was also quoted as saying that Indonesia might allow in the
near future dual listing on the Jakarta Stock Exchange for publicly
listed companies.

Indonesia, he said, plans to come up with more special economic zones
besides the one in Batam and its nearby islands, to attract foreign
investments through investor-friendly regulations and other
incentives.

The Bernama report said Jakarta also has plans to develop 14 such
zones in a bid not to lose out to its neighbors amid the fierce
competition for dollar investment.

Yudhoyono said Malaysian companies have significantly contributed to
Indonesia's economic development. 'But there are still many
opportunities for the Malaysian companies and they can invest in more
sectors in Indonesia,' he was quoted as saying.

Malaysian investors currently rank among the top five investors in
Indonesia, he said, adding that he expects Malaysia to become among
the top three.

--------------------------------------

Indonesia's Sari Husada H1 net profit 159 bln rupiah, up 5 pct yr-on-yr

JAKARTA, August 4 (XFN-ASIA) - PT Sari Husada, manufacturer of healthy
nutritious foods, reported a 5 pct year-on-year increase in first-half
to June net profit to 159 bln rupiah.

It said its operation was disrupted by an earthquake that hit
Yogyakarta and Central Java in May.

The earthquake resulted in 70 bln rupiah in lost sales and 34 bln lost
margin in the second quarter as two of its manufacturing plants were
affected by the disaster, it said.

The company said it expects no further material loss of sales in the
third quarter and the one-off costs are now expected to be less than
110 bln, of which 49 bln has been accounted for in the first half.

It said the repair program of the two plants were carried out faster
than expected and to support production, the base powder used for its
products is now being sourced to an Australia-based firm and a local
firm.

Sari Husada posted sales of 847 bln rupiah in the first half, up 11
pct from 759 bln a year earlier.

'The good results show how well our emergency earthquake response
program worked,' company president Budi Isman said.

The statement gave no further details of the results.

Sari Husada is a 93-pct owned subsidiary of Nutricia International BV.
Its main brands include SGM 1,2,3,4 milk, SGM baby biscuits, Vitalac,
Lactamil and Vitalac Genio.

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Honda motorcycle launches first scooter in Indonesia

JAKARTA, August 4 (Xinhua) -- Japanese motorcycle-maker Honda has
launched its first scooter in Indonesia to grab the country's scooter
market now dominated by Yamaha, local press reported Friday.

The Honda Vario automatic-transmission scooter was unveiled Thursday
with initial sales target of 20,000 units per month, reported Bisnis
Indonesia.

The local unit PT Astra Honda Motor puts a price tag of 12.5 million
rupiah (around 1,350 U.S. dollars) for the standard model.

Scooter grabs only a tiny share of 3 percent of last year's motorcycle sales.

But in the first half of the year, the share rose to 6 percent of the
total motorcycle sales of 1.81 million units.

Honda, relying on moped models, controls above 50 percent of total
motorcycle sales in Indonesia.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The Jakarta Post
August 4, 2006

RNI seeking partners to jointly produce ethanol

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Andi Haswidi, The Jakarta Post, Malang, Jakarta

PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI), a state-owned company operating
in the agribusiness field, is seeking out a number of private-sector
firms to enter into strategic partnerships with it for the processing
of molasses into ethanol.

"RNI plans to produce ethanol through collaborative ventures with
several private firms that have experience in the field. We plan to
start production next year," Achmad said earlier this week in Malang,
East Java.

"The cooperation will take the form of joint ventures with alcohol
producers," he said, without specifying any potential partners.

"We will provide the raw materials and their job will be to provide
the machinery," he explained.

Molasses are one of the raw materials that can be used to produce
ethanol, which is then used in biofuel blends.

With 10 sugar factories operated by RNI, Achmad Sjaiful, the company's
East Java unit's production director, said the firm's molasses
production was sufficient to make ethanol distillation commercially
feasible.

Achmad said that the plan to enter into joint ventures had been
adopted following the government's efforts to promote the use of
biofuels, thereby reducing the country's dependence on gasoline.

"We have to support the government's program of promoting the use of
biofuels in order to reduce gasoline usage. The molasses we produce
will be turned into alcohol to be mixed with gasoline," Achmad said.

"We view this as a major opportunity. Competition is not our primary
concern as the government has guaranteed it will buy our products at
acceptable prices," he said.

Of the ten sugar factories owned by the company, two of them are able
to produce ethanol, with one of these located in Cirebon and the other
in Yogyakarta. The two plants have a combined capacity of eight
million liters per year.

Achmad said that around 25 percent of the total sugarcane processed by
the factories would be used for ethanol production, while the rest
would continue to be used to supply existing customers in the
pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.

"RNI's entire molasses production is sold on the domestic market. RNI
does not export," he said.

The country has another 48 sugar factories located throughout the
nation that produce molasses for export, mostly to Japan.

In 2005, Indonesia's total production of molasses stood at around 1.3
million tons, with 227.7 thousand tons of this being exported.

The current price for molasses on the international market is US$105
per ton, while the price at home stands at $81 per ton.

Recently, Industry Minister Fahmi Idris suggested that all molasses
exports should be halted so as to ensure that domestic demand was met.

However, the chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission IV,
Didik J Rachbini, said the government would have to consider the
proposal carefully as molasses exports produced considerable earnings
for the country.

"In reality, we need more factories so that exports can continue," he argued.

----------------------------------------

Indonesia's Padang city to build beach resort

JAKARTA, August 4 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - The Padang city administration
plans to build a beach resort for tourist attraction to be called
Padang Bay city with an investment of Rp400 billion (US$43.9 million)
in the beach area.

The Padang Bay City project will include reclamation of the Padang
beach area, Padang mayor Fauzi Bahar said.

Bahar said implementation of the project is awaiting the result of a
feasibility study and approval from the city council.

A number of star-rated hotels will be built in the new location with
quake resistant construction and breakwaters that Padang Bay city will
also serve to protect Padang from abrasion and the threat of tsunami
as it will have breakwaters, he said.

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Indonesia palm oil market players take to sidelines

JAKARTA, August 4 (Reuters) - The Indonesian palm oil market was quiet
on Friday as players were reluctant to take positions ahead of the
weekend after days of a rally in prices, traders said.

Crude palm oil prices at the state marketing centre's auction, which
sells palm oil from state plantations, were quoted at 4,375 rupiah
($0.481) per kg, slightly up from 4,355 rupiah on Wednesday.

The centre did not hold a local auction on Thursday.

Bagas Angkasa, the centre's managing director, said prices were likely
to remain bullish for the coming weeks, supported by strong biodiesel
demand.

"Local palm oil prices can touch 4,500 rupiah this month because of
strong demand for biodiesl from Asia and Europe," he said.

On Friday, however, no auction was held in North Sumatra's Medan, the
key port for palm oil exports, with sellers remaining on the sidelines
awaiting price leads from Malaysian crude palm oil futures next week.

"Most sellers have sold much of their stocks in the last three days
when the prices were high, so they are holding their stocks for next
week," a trader in Medan said.

In Jakarta, cooking oil was little changed on Friday at 4,975 rupiah
per kg from 4,950 rupiah on Thursday.

"There aren't any deals today because demand is thin. We don't have
much to offer due to delivery problems. I see Malaysia was also down
today -- hopely it would be better next week," a Jakarta-based trader
said.

Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended lower on Friday, dragged down
by lower prices of crude oil and rival soyoil with the benchmark
third-month October <KPOV6> contract ending down by 30 ringgit to
1,611 ringgit ($439) a tonne.

On the export front, sellers offered August shipments at $450, free on
board Belawan, with no bids reported.

September shipments were quoted at $447.5 with buyers at $440, free on
board Belawan, without any deals reported.

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Asian Rubber Futures Settle Dn On Weak Sentiment;1-Wk Low

SINGAPORE, August 4 (Dow Jones)--Asian rubber futures ended the week
on a down note, settling at a one-week low despite mostly unchanged
raw material prices.

Funds on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange were looking to sell and were
unwilling to take fresh long positions, putting pressure on contracts,
traders said.

Traders agree there was little upside momentum, with Thailand and
Malaysia entering their peak production season.

The Tocom benchmark January RSS3 contract breached technical support
at Y276.5 a kilogram, triggering liquidation from funds and
speculators. It settled Y6.9 lower at Y271.7/kg.

Total trading volume declined to 142,885 tons from 162,965 tons Thursday.

Emori Tetsu, executive researcher at Mitsui Bussan Futures, said the
near-term outlook for Tocom is bearish.

"Market sentiment is not really strong...Y280 for the benchmark is a
very strong resistance (level), and many people are waiting to
liquidate right now," Emori said.

"Funds have already squared their positions, so they don't want to
take fresh positions," he said, adding that if the benchmark drops to
Y260/kg they may go short because it will be a new low.

A Singapore-based trader said the extent of Friday's losses was a
surprise, given that raw material prices in Indonesia haven't changed
much and raw material tonnage at Thailand's central markets was thin.

"We'll have to wait and see next week if Tocom was oversold," he said.

Rubber futures on the Osaka Mercantile Exchange settled sharply lower
tracking Tocom rubber in a thin market, with three contracts ending
limit-down.

The benchmark January RSS3 contract finished at Y271.5/kg, down Y5.5.

Overall trading volume was little changed at 4,105 tons, compared with
4,310 tons Thursday.

On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, rubber futures settled lower, with
copper and Tocom rubber losses weighing on prices, analysts said.

The benchmark SCR5/RSS3 October 2006 contract ended down CNY490 at
CNY22,845/ton.

Total trading volume slipped to 1,091,020 tons from 1,236,780 tons Thursday.

"(Even) with Typhoon Prapiroon making landfall in the Guangxi region
(and) having only a minor impact on Hainan province, prices are still
vulnerable to outside markets," said Shanghai Jiuheng Futures Co.
analyst Zhang Fangfang.

Hainan is China's major rubber growing region, accounting for over
two-thirds of the country's output.

On the Singapore Commodity Exchange, rubber futures came under
pressure from the losses in Tocom rubber, although fresh long buys
from local dealers shored up the market.

"Buyers came in to hedge...that steadied up the price," he said.

The September RSS3 contract settled at 232 U.S. cents/kg, down 4
cents; the September TSR20 contract lost 4.25 cents to end at 221.25
cents/kg.

RSS3 trading volume was at 4,800 tons, more than twice Thursday's
2,160 tons, while TSR20 trading volume eased to 3,580 tons from 4,620
tons.

Asian physical rubber prices were mostly lower, weighed down by the
sharp fall in futures, traders said.

Although raw material prices in Indonesia and Thailand were mostly
unchanged, this failed to provide support as the absence of buyers on
the market pressured rubber prices, they said.

"The market is weak...there're no buyers," said a Singapore-based trader.

"Tocom was almost limit-down today, (so) buyers are thinking maybe on
Monday it will continue (to fall)," another Singapore-based trader
said.

Thai RSS3 for September shipment was offered at 237 U.S. cents/kg,
down from 238 cents Thursday, while Thai STR20 was unchanged at 236
cents/kg, FOB Bangkok.

September shipments of Indonesia SIR20 declined to 221.6-224.9
cents/kg, from 226-227 cents, FOB Palembang.

Offers for Malaysia SMR20 for September shipment were lower at 229
cents/kg, compared with 230-233 cents, FOB Port Klang/Penang.

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S Africa offers N Sumatra co-op in education, tourism

MEDAN, N.SUMATRA, August 4 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - South African
Ambassador to Indonesia, Mandla Griffiths Memele, offered the North
Sumatra provincial administration cooperation in education, economy,
and tourism.

The South African Ambassador made the offer when on a courtesy call on
North Sumatra Governor Rudolf M.Pardede here on Thursday, spokesman of
the North Sumatra Provincial Administration ML.Tobing said.

In his visit, Memele was accompanied by some of its aid staffs, David
J.Jordaan and Joe Sudjana.

According to Tobing, the South African Government was keenly
interested in bussiness cooperation with the Indonesian province
considering that North Sumatra had potential agricultural commodities
for export to South Africa, such as vegetables and fruits.

Memela also suggested North Sumatra to export its handicraft goods.

To follow-up on the cooperation between South Africa and North Sumatra
province, a South African bussiness delegation will visit the province
in November 2006.

He explained that the G-to-G and private-to-private sector cooperation
between Indonesia and South Africa is expected the economic potentials
of the two sides.

On the occasion, Governor Rudolf M.Pardede said that he wellcomed the
cooperation offer. "We hope the planned cooperation can enhance the
economic performance of the two sides," he said.

Therefore, he asked his staff to make the necessary preparations for
the project.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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