1. RI TO PARTICIPATE IN TRADE EXPO IN RUMANIA.

Indonesia will display various non- oil/non-gas products at the 21th Bucharest International Fair for Consumer Goods 2004 in Rumania, on July 1-6.
"Participation in the expo is a significant part of Indonesia's efforts to promote its export products in the international market, especially in East Europe," National Agency for Export Development (Nafed) Chief Diah Maulida said.
She said the targetted markets were Rumania and some countries in the Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Middle East countries like Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, North African countries including Eqypt, Lybia, Tunisia, Algeria as well as West European countries like Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The export products to be exhibited in Bucharest were funiture, food products, jewelry, handicrafts,children;s toys and garments.
Nafed had decided to take part in the expo in Bucharest because the market prospects in post-cold war Rumania were quite attractive especially as the country's economy was being increasingly liberalized.
"With an open-market atmosphere prevailing and a still developing market, Rumania is a country offering good marketing opportunities," Diah said.
Rumania had a gross domestic product of 169.3 billion in 2002 Such a high DGP of Rp169.3 billion, a GDP growth rate of 4.9 percent and a per capital GDP of about US$7,600 putting it economically on the same footing as some West European countries.
The country would officially join the European Union in 2007, she cited.
Indonesian-Rumanian trade n 1998 was recorded at US$56.30 million, but it declined to US$20.20 million in 1990 and US$13.50 million in 2000.
In 2001, the bilateral trade figure increased slightly to US$16.70 million and US$22.30 million in 2002.
Indonesian exports to Rumania mainly consist of coffee, natural rubber, butter, funiture, handicrafts, building materials made of iron, cooking oil, garments and electronic goodss.

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2. RI EXPORTS RISE BY 2.68 PERCENT.

Indonesia's exports of oil/gas and non-oil/non-gas products in April 2004 rose by 2.68 percent from US$5.07 billion in March 2004 to US$5.20 billion, a government official said.
Head of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) Soedarti Surbakti said the increase was caused by the rise of non-oil/non-gas products exports by 3.94 percent from US$3.87 billion in March 2004 to US$4.02 billion in April.
But she said export of oil and gas decreased by 1.39 percent from US$1.20 billion to US$1.18 billion.
"The export of crude petroluem which dropped by 12.59 percent has contributed to the decrease of oil and gas export. But the export of oil and natural gas rose by 44.75 percent and 0.48 perecent respectively," she added.
According to her, the drop of crude petroleum export in April 2004 was caused by the decrease of export volume by 12 percent though the country's crude petroleum in the world market increased by 33.16 dollar per barrel on March to 33.65 percent per barrel on April.
The country's export value of oil and gas and non oil/non gas products during January - April 2004 rose slightly by 0.07 percent compared to the same period in 2003.
Machinery/electric applliances contributed mainly to the export value worth US$2.53 billion, followed by mechanical machineries (US$1.12 billion) and vagetable oil and fat (US$1.21 billion).
Indonesian products are mostly exported to Japan (US$2.33 billion), US (US$2.36 billion) and Singapore (1.59 billion).
In the meantime the national export of non oil/non gas products during January-April 2004 reached US$15.49 billion dollar or increased by 1.16 percent compared to the same period in 2003 amounting to US$15.32 billion while the export value of oil and gas dropped by 3.36 percent from US$4.88 billion to US$4.71 billion dollar.
Soedarti also said that Indonesian import rose from US$10.99 billion dollar during January-April 2003, or 10.20 percent increase to US12.12 billion dollar during January-April 2004.
"Imports of oil and gas rose by 35.16 percent and non-oil/non-gas products by 3.05 percent," she added.

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3. BI TO CONSIDER RELAXING LOAN-COLLECTION RULES FOR CERTAIN INUSTRIES.

Bank Indonesia (BI), the central bank, will consider the possibility of relaxing the collection rules on loans extended to industries that have bright prospects, the bank's governor, Burhanuddin Abdullah, said.
"We are looking into the loan collection rules which many banks consider to be too strict. But the outcome will be adjusted to the results of a survey we are conducting on the business world," Burhanuddin said.
The survey'a aim was to identify industries that had bright prospects but had so far not received any credits from local banks, he said.
According to Burhanuddin, many of those industries had in fact obtained loans from overseas banks whereas there was actually an abundance of rupiahs in the Indonesian banking system.
He said domestic banks' loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) currently stood at around 45 percent or 25 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) which was still below the pre-crisis LDR of 75 percent.
The banks' LDR was so low, Burhanuddin said, because they were still extra careful in extending credits to businesses while some banks were inclined to put their assets only in low-risk investments such as BI certificates (SBI) and government bonds. Banks' assets in SBI had reached Rp133.2 trillion or 12.3 percent of the total of their productive assets, and Rp354.9 trillion or 32.9 percent in bonds.
Only 46 percent of their assets had been invested in loans extended to the business world, with most of the loans being consumer credits.
Burhanuddin said banks should extend more credits to the productive real sector and not rely solely on the consumption sector and money market as its major source of income.
"Without an increase in job-creating investments, people's purchasing power will gradually decrease as their income declines," he said.
He pointed out the Indonesia economy needed to attain a growth rate of five to six percent in order to reduce its unemployment rate which had reached 9.8 percent at the end of 2003.
"We will not be able to accomplish this if the Indonesian economy continues to rely on consumption as it has already done during the past five years," Burhanuddin said.

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4. NORTH SUMATERA'S ARECA NUT EXPORTS UP BY 1,000 PCT.

North Sumatera's areca nut exports in January to March 2004 have been reported to reach a value of more than 6.230 million US dollars, up by 1,122 pct compared to the 509.623 thousand US dollars earned in last year's corresponding period.
According to the North Sumatera industry and trade office, the increase was the result of an raise in the export volume which has reached more than 12.212 thousand tons, while the January-March 2003 areca nut exports from the province reached only 1.990 thousand tons.
The increase in North Sumatera's areca nut exports in the first quarter of 2004 was also thanks to an increase in overseas consumption of the commodity.
Under these favourable circumstances, the growers and exporters of the commodity in North Sumatra had been called on to benefit from the potential demands on the overseas market by constantly improving the quality of their commodity and securing the availability of their areca nuts on a sustainable basis.
Areca nuts have also contributed substantially to North Sumatera's exports which in the January-March 2004 period reached a value of 1,334.965 million tons worth 709.291 million US dollars, while the exports in the corresponding period of last year reached only 935.413 thousand tons estimated at 432.241 million US dollars.
North Sumatera has been exporting its areca nuts to Iran, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan.
The commodity is normally used by the pharmaceutical, food and paint industries.

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5. INDONESIAN PRESIDENT TO INAUGURATE PROJECTS IN MALANG, EAST JAVA.

Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to inaugurate three mega projects worth hundreds of billions of rupiah in Malang district, East Java province, an official has said.
The head of state will symbolically inaugurate a sports stadium in Kepanjeng subdistrict, a sugar industrial estate in Gondanglegi subdistrict, and an agribusiness market center in Mantung-Pujon, at the 30,000-seater stadium, Malang district administration spokesman, Cholis Bidayati, said here Tuesday.
The three projects were spearheaded by the late district head, Ibnu Rubianto, in 2000, he said.
The sports stadium was built at a cost of Rp 54 billion, the sugar industrial estate at Rp 34 billion, and the agribusiness market center at Rp 4.5 billion.
Megawati, who is seeking reelection under her Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDIP), along with other candidates have been busy campaigning since June 1.

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6. BPEN TO HOLD ANOTHER HOUSEWARE FAIR.

The National Agency for Export Development (BPEN) will organize another international houseware fair at the Jakarta Convention Center on June 9-13.
"Judging by the success of the first exhibition held last year we have decided to hold another houseware fair this year," the agency's chief, Diah Maulida, said.
She said around 200 national companies would take part in the five-day expo which will display household utensils, house decoration, bathroom accessories and dried flowers, among others.
Unlike in 2003, this year's expo would be participated in by companies from South Africa and the Philippines, she said.
"Around 450 buyers from different countries have confirmed their attendence in the expo to buy Indonesian houseware," she said.
Indonesia exported US$1.22 billion worth of houseware last year compared to US$ 1.18 billion a year earlier.
The houseware exports mostly went to the United States, Japan, Canada, Britain, Middle Eastern countries and African countries.

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7. MALAYSIAN FIRM TO BUY INDON COMPANY'S STAKES.

The Malaysian pharmaceutical company, Pharmaniaga Berhad, will acquire 55 percent of its Indonesian counterpart, the publicly-listed Millennium Pharmacon International (SDPC), a Malaysian businessman said.
The Malaysian company has signed a memorandum of understanding with an SDPC stakeholder, Pharmaniaga Berhad chief, Azhar bin Hussain, said in a meeting with Indonesian Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam) officials.
Azhar said other groups within the Pharmaniaga Berhad firm can acquire the remaining SDPC stake in a bid to broaden the Malaysian firm's business network outside Malaysia.
"Indonesia is among countries where Pharmaniaga Berhad will achieve its goal," he said.

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8. PT JAMSOSTEK PROVIDES RP22.5 BILLION FOR SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.

The state-owned workers insurance company PT Jamsostek has set aside a fund amounting to Rp22.5 billion for the development of 600 small and medium-sized businesses (UKM) this year, its President Director Achmad Djunaidi AK said.
He said that of the 22.5 billion rupiah, 18 billion would be provided in the form of credits carrying low interest rates ranging from six to 12 percent, and the remaining 4.5 billion would be for human resource development and training.
"We are providing low-interest rates in an effort to improve their business quality and self-reliance and to create more jobs," Djunaidi.
He made the statement in a scholarship presentation ceremony held in connection with a business dialog and UKM exhibition in Hall B of the Jakarta Fair Ground. Tens of students received the scholarships.
Djunaedi said that the funds would chiefely be provided for laid-off workers so that they would do business of their own and become self-reliant.
Small businesses that will receive the funds are incorporated (PT, CV or Firm) companies with a maximal working capital of 200 million, or those having a maximall turn over of one billion.
PT Jamsostek has provided credits for 3,583 UKMs since 1991 with a total credit of Rp61.5 billion.

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9. INTERNATIONAL EXPOS HAVE STRATEGIC MEANING, SAYS MINISTER.

Industry and Trade Minister Rini MS Soewandi said international expos had a strategic meaning because they enabled traders and would-be buyers to meet and transact in a proper way for mutual benefit.
"International expos are also the right place to promote domestic products," Rini said in remarks to open the Jakarta International Houseware Fair (JIHF) 2004.
She said to become master in their own home, Indonesian products, including houseware, must be able to compete with imported products.
To win in the competion, she said, Indonesian products must be competitive in price, superior in quality, functional and attractive in design.
Rini also said the public's love for domestic products was a psycholoical asset that would ensure the nation's survival in the free trade era.
She mentioned China and the US as examples of countries that had developed their domestic markets to such an extent that they became the engines of their international trades.
"To that end, the efforts to increase our non-oil/non-gas exports will be a pro-active endeavour involving several parties such as the government, the business world and the public," she added.
She said the government would serve as a regulator of domestic industry by giving clear directions and signals in the form of transparent regulations and laws. The government would also take proactive measures along with the banking sector to facilitate financing schemes for both capital goods and working or trading capital.

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Indonesia's new exporters will find the Middle East and African markets good for their products because the two regions do not impose stiff conditions on their imports, Agus Tjahjono of the National Agency for Export Development (BPEN) said.
"Exporting goods to the Middle East and Africa is easier than to other countries so that Indonesian new exporters could choose these regions as the destination of their products," he said on the sidelines of the Jakarta International Houseware Fair.
The markets in these regions are different from those of the United States and Europe which stiffly impose conditions related to health and environment, he said.
"Middle East and African importers are not too selective in imposing conditions on products they will import," Tjahjono said.
But he reminded Indonesian businessmen of the importance for them to heed the quality and price of their products, as well as the market taste if they want to export goods to the Middle East and Africa.
Therefore, Tjahjono suggested that new small-and medium-sized exporters should introduce their products through good exhibitions in those countries. He cited as an example the Sharjash Solo Exhibition that will be held in the United Arab Emirates on September 13 -17, 2004.
Tjahono admitted however that the Middle East imposes high import duties on imported goods. "But this is not a major barrier because the high import duties do not affect Indonesian goods only but also those of other countries," he added.

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11. ENIOR INDON MINISTER SAYS TARGET BUDGET DEFICIT TO REMAIN AT 1.2 PCT.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Dorodjatun Kuntjorojakti said the government's target budget deficit for 2004 will remain at 1.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), despite a change in the rupiah's conversion rate and oil price assumptions in this year's state budget.
"The target budget deficit will remain at 1.2 percent of the GDP. The oil price has begun to calm down," he said on the sidelines of a meeting with capital market players here.
He predicted that the rupiah's weakening will not have a significant impact on the Indonesian economy, partly due to strong macroeconomic fundamentals.
The rupiah's weakening is caused not only by external factors but also by domestic factors, such as excess liquidity in the money market and the real sector's fear of inflation hikes this year, he said.
What has made the rupiah's depreciation worse is the rising corporate demand for the dollar and the political condition ahead of the July 5 presidential polls, he said.
The rupiah has weakened in the past month, falling to a 26-month low at one point.
The minister further said the fiscal policy will always stick to the government's initial plan.

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12. CENTRAL KALIMANTAN EARNS US$16.602 M FROM NON-OIL/NON--GAS EXPORTS.

In the January-March period of 2004, Central Kalilmantan province earned US$16.602 million in foreign exhange from exports of various non-oil/non-gas commodities, an official said.
Head of the provincial trade and industry office Hariyanto Halim told reporters the province's first quarter earnings from non-oil/non-gas exports was higher than its export earnings of US$6.480 million in 2003.
"The province's earnings are derived from exporting 22,450 tons of crude palm oil (CPO) worth US$10.637 million, 10,542 cubic meters of plywood worth US$3.719 million, and the rest is from exporting mouldings, rubber and rattan," he said.
So far, the province's potential exports were produced in West and East Kotawaringin disricts, he added.

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13. JAPAN GIVES PRIORITY TO CLEAN WATER PROJECT IN INDONESIAN PROVINCE.

The Japanese government has given priority to the clean water project in a resettlement area in Belu district in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, a provincial housing and regional infrastructure official has said.
The clean water facility was built in 2002 to help former East Timorese refugees who had resettled in Manleten village, Tasifeto subdistrict that year, Johanes Kappir said.
The decision to give priority to the fresh water facility was made as the Manleten resettlement accommodates 260 East Timorese families, making it larger than other resettlement sites, he said.
Six tankers transport up to 5,000 liters of clean water every day to Manleten, which is situated 10 km away from the nearest source of water, he said.
Some 200,000 East Timorese fled to East Nusa Tenggara after East Timor decided to separate from Indonesia in a referendum in 1999.
Most of the refugees have returned to East Timor but others have chosen to live in East Nusa Tenggara, which shares a border with East Timor.

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A German bank has loaned Indonesia's state electricity company (PLN) in the provinces of South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi, some US$30 million to build a high-voltage electricity distribution network, the company's general manager, Rachmadi Danoe Atmadja, said.
The network has been set up over an area of 280 km, stretching from the districts of Bone, Bulukumba, Bantaeng, Jeneponto, Takalar, Sidrap, Tanatoraja and Palopo, he said.
The construction of the 150-kilovolt electricity distribution network began in 2003 and will be completed in 2005 in coincidence with the operation of several new power plants in the region, he said.
The new facilities, he said, will hopefully reduce electricity disruptions in Makassar, where 60 percent of the total number of electricity subscribers in the region live.

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The price of Indonesian tea in the world market in the past two months rose to US$ 1.2 a kg from US$ 1 a kg at the end of last year, an executive said.
Insyaf Malik, chairman of the Indonesian Tea Producers Association, said that the current price would make tea plantations in the country enthusiastic.
According to him, the ideal price of the country's tea in the world market should be was above US$1.2 a kg or above the 1998 price reaching US$2 dollars/kg.
He further said the price of Indonesian tea dropped slowly from 2002 to 2003 and tea plantations suffered financial losses worth Rp180 billion per annum.
To make its price improve, Insyaf said tea plantations must enhance their products by producing more qualified tea tip No 1 and No 2 instead of No 3 and No 4. Another effort is to improve the Jakarta Tea Auction (JTA) performance because its presence has affected to monitor the tea price development in the world such as Srilanka and India.
The association chairman further said that to improve its improvement, the JTA must seek opportunities to sell the country's product.
"Of course, the JTA presence is able to increase Indonesian tea price in world by monitoring the development of the commodity price in Srilankan and Indian markets," he said.
In the meantime he said Indonesia now explored to export tea to Russia after it exported to the Soviet Union, which had average demand reaching 150,000 tons per year.But Russia now needs 60,000-67,000 tons per year due to the country's economic problems. Some 70-80 percent of the country's commodity is black tea and the remaining is green tea, he added.
Indonesia exports tea to Europe, Middle East, the US, Japan and other countries.

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The Trade and Industry Ministry's National Agency for Export Development (BPEN) will devote more attention to the Jakarta International House ware Fair (JIHF) to develop it into an international expo visited not only by foreign buyers but also attended by foreign companies, a government official said.
"We are not only planning the participation of local house ware producers but also foreign companies in the next expo," Diah Maulida, chief of the BPEN, said on the sidelines of the official conclusion of 2004 JIHF.
She said that the expo inaugurated by Trade and Industry Minister Rini MS Suwandi on June 9, 2004, was better than the previous one.
According to her, BPEN would make better preparations for the next expo and promote it at home and abroad earlier.
BPEN has invited several countries as Iran, South Africa, Turkey, the Philippines and Romania which cooperated with Indonesia in export promotion, and only Iran, South Africa and the Philippines had participated in the just concluded JIHF.

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17. GOVT PLANNING PROCUREMENT OF SHIPS FOR PT PELNI.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri held a limited cabinet meeting to discuss procurement of ships for state-owned shipping company PT Pelni."(We are) discussing possibilities of procuring ships for Pelni," State Secretary Bambang Kesowo said after the meeting.He said Pelni's present ships were more than 20 years old.
The procurement of ships would take three years but the meeting had not yet discussed the budget. Bambang said the ships were badly needed to serve 140 ports and 2,020 routes.He said the existing ships were able to serve 90 ports so far and 1,300 routes. He declined to say how many ships would be needed.
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-jakti meanwhile said the government would probably buy 24 ships which would consist of cargo and passenger ships.
donesia at present has 22 ships while another ship was expected to arrive in September this year.

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18. RI TO CONCLUDE LNG SALES DEAL WITH CHINA LATE JUNE.

Indonesia will sign an agreement in late June to sell five million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China's Zheijiang and Shandong provinces.
"The Memorandum of Understadning (MoU) is expected to be signed on June 25 in Surabaya," Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.But Purnomo did not say from which gas field the LNG would come.
Meanwhile, a source at the state oil and gas policy agency (BP Migas) said the LNG to be supplied to China may come from the Tangguh field in Papua and the Bontang field in East Kalimantan.
China's state oil and gas company Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group) would compete with two other companies, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), to win the tender to build an LNG terminal in Shandong province.
The terminal would have to be finalised in 2006 to hold three million tons of LNG a year, and the capacity could be increased to up to five million tons to meet market demand.
In addition to Indonesia, other LNG suppliers to China that would be using the LNG terminal in Shandong would be Yemen, Russia and Iran.
Sinopec has signed an agreement with National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to import some five million tons of LNG annually.
CNOOC which dominated the local market in China was also planning to build an LNG terminal in Zhejiang province.
The company was expected to spend US$2 million on the construction of a loading terminal, power generators and a pipeline in the province. The project is scheduled to begin in 2008.

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19. BI ADMITS INCREASE OF FEDS INTEREST THREAT INDONESIAN ECONOMY.

The Indonesian economy could be deeply affected if the US cental bank, the Fed, really raises its interest rate, a senior Bank Indonesia (BI) or Indonesian central bank official said.
"The impact on Indonesia will be immense because our banks do not extend credits, our business climate is unfavorable and corporate restructurization has been taking place at a snail's pace," BI Senior Deputy Governor Anwar Nasution said.
He said, if the Fed really raised its interest rate, BI would consider increasing the rate of interest on BI Certificates (SBI) - a measure which in Anwar's opinion would not necessarily cause an increase in bank interest rates.
"There ought to be no relationship between an increase in SBI's interest rate and bank interest rates. This was borne out by the fact that bank interest rates did not follow suit when the SBI intrest rate dropped," he said.
Anwar said he believed indications of BI planning to increase the interest rate on SBI would already be discernible at the auctioning of SBI on Wednesday.
The interest rate on one-month SBI was now 7.33 percent and on three months 7.25 percent. One one-night and seven-day Fasbi , the current interest was seven percent, he said.

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20. RI TO PARTICIPATE IN BUILDING MATERIALS EXPO IN AUSTRALIA.

Indonesia, represented by seven export-oriented companies, will participate in "Designbuild Australia 2004", an expo on building materials, in Melbourne, Australia from June 20 to 23, this year.
"By participating in the expo we want to seize the opporunities existing in the Australian building materials market which we have so far not exploited maximally," chief of the National Export Development Agency (BPEN) at the Trade and Industry Ministry Diah Maulida said.
The expo is the biggest annual event of its kind in Australia and held alternately in Melbourne and Sydney.
The building materials to be put on display by Indonesian companies are natural rock, mosaics, marble, wooden tiles, sandy rock, wallpaper, ceramic tiles, wooden products, funiture, windows and doors.
According to her, Indonesia had so far yet to canvass the building material market in Australia optimally. Indonesian building materials accounted for only 7.7 percent of the total value of Australia's building material imports which stood at USD1.42 billion in 2003.
"Indonesian building material exports to Australia in 2003 only reached a total value of USD100.7 million," she said.
BPEN was hoping that Indonesia's participation in the expo would lead to an increase in its building material exports to Australia, she said.
The seven companies to represent Indonesia at the expo are PT. Alwindo Sakti, PT. Bukit Barisan Industry, CV Cambium Purni Industry, CV Indra Multi Collection, PT. Karya Irian Agung, Le Chateau Indonesia and PT. Sakura Sentral.

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21. NL, US, CHINA DESTINATIONS OF N SULAWESI AGRI PRUDUCT EXPORTS.

The Netherlands, the United States and China were recorded to be the three of the 10 big destination countries of North Sulawesi agribusiness and agroindustrial export products in the last three years.
The other seven countries are Korea, Japan, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, India and Malaysia, head of the province's foreign trade section of the trade and industry ministry Bertje Porawouw, said here recently.
The Netherlands was likely a traditional market for prime export commodity from this province, most of which consist of coconut derivatives which was also passed on by the Netherland to some other European Union countries, Bertje said.
The province's export value to the United States is quite big in the last three years, because of a good progress recorded in the trade relation with that country. The province recorded a growth rate of about 10.3 percent annually.
In the meantime, the province's export to China is mostly in form of raw materials, as the country is currently making trade partnership with Indonesia.
Such agribusiness and agroindustrial products exported to China, according to Bertje, consisted of coconut products and derivatives which account for 55.92 percent.
In the meantime, fishery products reached 31.80 percent, most of which consists of tinned cakalang fish, tinned tuna fish, tinned wood fish and fresh fish.

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22. INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN RI BETTER THAN IN OTHER SE ASIAN REGIONS.

Investment opportunities in Indonesia are believed to be better than other regions in South East Asia, thanks to the country's more stable economic condition.
This is the conclusion of a discussion held by the TNT cargo company and attended by Michael Drake (TNT Regional Manager for Southeast Asia), Collin Moran (President Director of TNT Indonesia), and Ajay Kaul (Deputy President Director of TNT Indonesia).
Collin Moran is optimistic that in 2004 the investment climate in Indonesia would be more conducive, and will bring a positive impact on the development of the cargo business in Indonesia. "The ups and downs of the cargo business heavily depend on the development of investment," he said.
It has been predicted that the company would be able to grab a market share of 20 to 22 pct in 2004 if investment is still stable like it is now.
The company is currently running a one-day domestic express with a view to increase the growth of the TNT market on the domestic market.
Some of the industries who are regular customers of TNT in Indonesia are the garment, banking, automotive, and telecommunications industries.
TNT entered Indonesia in 1979, and now operates 112 vehicles, 1000 employees, 19 depots, 7 agents, and 15 logistic distribution centres in Jakarta, and has operational units in Surabaya, Medan, Solo, Yogyakarta, Klaten and Balikpapan, and 12 countries of destination.
The company also has 1,400 m2 of storage facilities at the Soekarno Hatta airport, in addition to 700 m2 of offices, and conducts 15 international flights each day.

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23. THAILAND READY TO SUBSIDIZE NEW BELAWAN-SATUN ROUTE.

The government of Thailand has expressed readiness to subsidize the vessels operated by the river, lake and ferry transportation company PT ASDP, if the state enterprise opens new route from Belawan (North Sumatra) to the Thai Province of Satun.
"The Thai government are interested in the company's new route from Belawan to Penang in Malaysia which are scheduled to open in July this year. They see the ferry service to Medan as very prospective for the marketing of their farm produce like fruits and vegetables which can be carried by Jatra III," Dedy Hermawan, member of PT ASDP's Regional New Route Team, said in Jakarta.
Dedy said that Governor of Satun had been on a weeklong visit to Medan during which he had talks with North Sumatera government officials and the management of PT ASDP on the realisation of the proposal.
"This is part of the cooperation under the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) launched several years ago," Dedy said.
He further said that Thailand wished the new Belawan-Penang route could be opened at the same time during the official ceremony in mid-July.
Jatra III which will go into service on the new route has a capacity for 800 passengers and 100 motor vehicles including trucks and personal cars. The vessel has a maximum cruising speed of 14 knots, which enables it to cover the Belawan-Penang route in about 12 hours.
In the meantime, Corporate secretary of PT ASDP Prasetyo B Utomo, who is also chairman of the Belawan-Penang regional route executive body, said his side has yet to make a decision on whether the new route to Thailand could be coupled with the opening of the Belanwan-Penang route.
"But we hope the route could be opened this year, because the Thai market is also prospective which is obviously beneficial to the North Sumatera provincial administration in the development of their tourism sector and trade," Prasetyon said.
According to him, the farm produce from North Sumatra have a high potential for marketing to Thailand. The opening of two regional routes would also serve as a stimulant to develop the province as the main central gate for the import of commodities from the three countries.
Prasetyo also explained that the North Sumatra administration also welcomed the opening of the new routes to Penang and Satun (Thailand).

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