SOME 200 FOREIGN YACHTS TO JOIN SAIL BANDA 2010

Jakarta, April 12 (ANTARA) - Around 200 yachts from abroad are expected to join the upcoming international marine event of Sail Banda 2010 from July to August, and they have been registered for the event, the Maluku governor said.

"The yachts are scheduled to depart from Darwin, Australia on July 27 and arrive in Banda waters in Maluku province on July 29 this year," Maluku Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu said at a meeting with Antara's editorial board members here on Monday.

In addition, the heads of state of eight countries were also expected to attend Sail Banda, the governor said, without naming the countries.

Ralahalu, accompanied by the head of the Maluku provincial Investment Coordinating Board, Rahman Soumena, made a visit to Antara News Agency as part of a campaign to promote the international marine event of Sail Banda.

Ralahalu said the event was intended to introduce Maluku`s marine tourism potentials to the international community, and to convince them that the province was really safe for tourists and investors.

Apart from that, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad was also scheduled to launch Sail Banda on April 15 in Maluku's provincial capital of Ambon.

According to the governor, in a bid to give broad picture about Maluku's investment potentials to investors and promote investment opportunities, the local administration in cooperation with state-owned PT Bank Mandiri would conduct a "Maluku Investment Day" in Jakarta on April 14.

Maluku Investment Day would be held as part of Maluku's efforts to speed up economic development in the province that has nine district and two city administrations.

Maluku wished to raise its economic growth from the current 6.3 percent to 8.35 percent in 2013 if the province can earn about Rp1.8 trillion of income per year, Rahman Soumena said, adding that Maluku needed a lot of investors.

A series of cultural festivals at different stopovers across Indonesia on the islands of Timor, Banda, Ambon, Buton, Lembata, Wakatobi, Flores, Sulawesi, Bali, Java, Borneo, Belitung and finally on to Batam or Bintan will enliven Sail Banda 2010,
Governor Karel Albert Ralahalu added.