Dahlan Receives Delegation From Australia's Northern Territory

Jakarta, June 5 (ANTARA) - State enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan received a government delegation from Australia`s Northern Territory here on Wednesday to discuss various topics including cooperation in cattle breeding. The Australian delegation includes Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles, CEO Department of the Chief Minister Gary Barners, Executive Director of the Department of Business, Brian O` Gallagher. In the meeting Dahlan was flanked by deputy minister for primary industries M Zamkani and the president director of state-owned logistics company Bulog, Soetarto Alimoeso. Dahlan said Australia had asked PT Garuda Indonesia to re-open its direct flight route to Darwin. "They earnestly hope that Garuda would fly again there. The route has been closed since the financial crisis," he said. He said Darwin residents were enthusiastic to welcome the re-opening of the route by Garuda which is known for its best service. "Right now there are a lot of flights to Australia but they are all served by low-cost carriers. They wish for a full service," he said. The meeting had also discussed exchange of students from Darwin and Indonesian eastern regions. Dahlan said Australia wished a number of schools in Darwin would again include Indonesian language in their curriculum. On beef Dahlan said "they said the price of beef in Australia now reaches Rp20,000 per kilogram which is far lower than in Indonesia which reaches Rp90,000 per kilogram." He said the Australian delegation said they now had a surplus in cow supply. They said they had to kill around 100,000 cows in every Australian state to balance cow population, Dahlan said. He said the Australian delegation however did not raise Indonesia`s plan to import cows from Australia in the meeting. "They fully refer to the suppliers as imports is not the affairs of the government," he said.