Government to Expand Visa-Free Policy to PromoteTourism

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian Government will expand the scope of its visa-free policy in order to promote the tourism sector, Coordinating Minister for Economics Sofyan Djalil said here Friday. "We already have a visa-free policy for the citizens of fifteen countries. Four more countries will be added to the list: China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia," he added. With this policy, Indonesia expects to increase the number of tourist arrivals. "Through the visa-free policy for nineteen countries, we hope to increase tourist visits up to 85 percent," Sofyan noted. The expansion of the visa-free policy is one of the four economic policies that will be implemented shortly. The other three policies are the introduction of tax incentives, additional anti-dumping duty, and increase the use of biofuel by at least twenty percent. "The biofuel policy will save our foreign exchange for diesel imports by 33 million tons of the CPO equivalent," Sofyan pointed out. However, he added, the biofuel policy will require a ministerial regulation from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. "A ministerial regulation will be signed next Monday," Sofyan revealed. The visa-free and biofuel policies are expected to have positive effects on the national economy. (*)