YOGYAKARTA, 25 January — Tourism ministers from eight ASEAN countries are attending the Royal ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2002 being held here from Jan. 21 to 28. Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri will inaugurate the Royal ATF 2002 as well as the new Jogja Expo Center (JEC) today.
The eight ministers will be meeting Megawati. As guests of Indonesia’s Minister for Culture and Tourism I Gede Ardika, the other seven ministers attending the annual meeting are Brunei’s Minister of Industry and Primary Resources Abdul Rahman Taib, Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism Veng Sereyvuth, Malaysia’s Minister of Arts, Culture and Tourism Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, Myanmar’s Minister of Hotels and Tourism Mag. Gen. Saw Lwin, Philippine Secretary of Tourism Richard J. Gordon, Singapore’s Minister of State for Trade and Industry Raymond Lim and Thailand’s Tourism Authority Chairman Somsak Thepsutin.
Vietnam is represented by Vice Chairman of Tourism Authority Dr. Pham Tu and the Laos delegation is headed by Vice Minister of Commerce and Tourism Cheng Sayavong. ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Certeza and ASEAN-Japan Center Director Pichai Raktasinha are also present.
Taking advantage of the presence of the ministers, meetings were held with neighboring countries Japan, China and South Korea, which are the largest tourist markets for ASEAN countries and also their major trading partners. At these talks, China was represented by National Tourism Administration Vice Chairman Gang Sun, Japan by Vice Minister of Land Infrastructure and Transport Jiro Hanyu and South Korea by Assistant Minister of Culture Oh Jicheol. Joint communiqués are likely to be issued. The JEC will give the city a venue to showcase the arts and crafts that it is famous for and was initiated by the governor of the Special Province of Yogyakarta, Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, who is hosting the Royal ATF 2002. The week-long Royal ATF 2002 includes meetings of the national tourism organizations of ASEAN, the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA), the ministerial meetings, the ASEAN Tourism Conference and the Travel Exchange or Travex.
The Travex is the commercial component of the ATF and is a marketplace for sellers of ASEAN tourism products and services to meet with buyers from all over the world. Registered for the Travex are 402 seller booths from nine ASEAN countries with the exception of Laos and 375 buyers from 46 countries. There are also 75 media persons from 32 countries covering the Royal ATF 2002.
