Indonesia and World Tourism News

Indonesia to increase cooperation with Central Asian coutries

Beijing (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has been active in approacing Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in an effort to increase cooperation with the Central Asian countries, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said.

“The three countries are economically very dynamic and Indonesia has the interest to increase cooperation and expand bilateral ties with them,” the foreign minister said here Saturday.

He said that Indonesia would increase cooperation with the three Central Asian nations not only in the political field but also in the economic, trade, investment, tourism, cocial and cultural sectors.

The foreign minister made the remarks during his stop over here after visiting the three Central Asian nations. During the visit, he was accompanied by 17 national businessmen.

Hassan Wirajuda after the stop over continued his trip to Singapre where he would attend an ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting to discuss humanitarian aid for Myanmar.

The 17 business makers who joined the foreign minisster dueing his visit to the three nations were doing business, among others, in the enegy, oil, gas, telecommunications, general trade and banking sectors.

The minister said his visit to the three countries was strategic and was important for expanding diplomatic ties which had been running well so far.

He said that the visit was welcome by the governments of the three states and the respective parties saw big potentials on which they could establish mutually beneficial cooperations.

“The three countries have gained progresses with an economic growth ranging from 10 to 30 percent,” the foreign minister said.

He said that Kazakhstan, for example, could be said as the `Emirate` of Central Asia as it kept a large oil reserve and it had transformed a number of its cities to become modern ones.

The minister said that the contraint faced so far in the tourism sector betetween them was the inexistence of direct flights from those countries to Jakarta.

The three cities are so far covered by flights from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. “I hope that the flights would be connected to Jakarta so that tourists from the Central Asian countries would be visiting Indonesia,” he added. (*)

Source: ANTARA News

Add comment May 19th, 2008

Activists collect handprints for borobudur presevation

Magelang, C. Java, May 18 (ANTARA News) - More than 10,000 handprints on 140 banners by activists were unfurled at the Borobudur temple compound, as part of a campaign to preserve the world`s heritage.

“We collect 10,000 handprints as a campaign to preserve Borobudur as a world`s heritage in Indonesia,” coordinator of Indonesia World Heritage Youth Network (IndoWYN), Lenny Hidayat said here, Sunday.

As many as 140 banners with handprints were carried in a procession by some activists, who walked around the temple on the occasion of Waicak (Buddha`s birth anniversary) on Tuesday.

Lenny said, the handprints were collected from 16 university students in Jakarta, Medan, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Bogor, since May 5.

The campaign is aimed at promoting awareness on the importance of developing information on the nation`s heritage.

“Especially for some sites which are known world wide like the Borobudur temple,” she added.

Currently, people living near the temple were not informed enough about Borobudur, she said.

The campaign received support from the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco), Tourism Ministry, Kadam Choeling Foundation, and the Borobudur Conservation Body.(*)

Source: ANTARA News

Add comment May 19th, 2008