East Java Expands Market in East Asia

Surabaya, E Java (Antara) - The East Java provincial government is planning to expand market for its small and medium industrial products to a number of East Asian countries. To that end, the local government will buy plots in several tourism centers abroad, Head of the East Java Provincial Cooperatives and Small and Medium Businesses Office Achmad Basuki said here on Friday. "In the first phase, the East Java provincial government has built a promotion center on 1,200 square meters of land in Tianjin, China, to display its products from East Java. The building also has restaurants offering East Java cuisine," he added. He revealed the province was planning to build a promotion center in another country next year. "We are currently eying East Asian countries, including Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam," he remarked. The promotion centers will showcase a wide range of handicraft goods and batik clothing, as many foreigners are fond of batik prints and designs, he pointed out. Batik clothes at the promotion centers will carry batik mark labels issued by the batik laboratory in Yogyakarta. Indonesian batik is recognized by the UNESCO as one of the world's intangible cultural heritages for of its uniqueness. (*)