TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia hopes to gain from the annual seven-day meeting starting Oct 8 this year of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) in Nusa Dua, Bali.
The big meeting which will attended by thousands of delegates from 189 countries is expected to serve to help promote the country`s tourism wealth.
The Indonesian government has arranged visits by the delegates to a number of tourist destinations in the country such as Lake Toba of North Sumatra, the Komodo National Park, on of the world`s natural wonders in East Nusa Tenggara.
The government has set and is already taken aggressive step to develop its tourism industry to contribute more to its shrinking foreign exchange reserve.
The government has seen tourism sector which has been long left secondary in the government attention, is potential to contribute to strengthening its foreign exchange reserve amid the global economic uncertainties.
Currently, the tourism sector is the third largest foreign exchange earner after palm oil and coal outside the oil and gas sector. The government has been concerned with the decline in its foreign exchange reserve and widening current account deficit resulting in weak national currency, rupiah.
Bank Indonesia (BI) has said the country`s foreign exchange reserve had declined US$400 million so far this year. The government has spent much foreign exchange to service foreign debts, and to prop up rupiah, which has continued to be under pressure amid the protracted global financial turbulence.
BI predicted the country will earn US$17.6 billion from the tourism sector in 2019 with at least 20 million visits by foreign tourists. The earning rose from US$14 billion in 2017.
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The National Organizing Committee for the IMF-WB annual meeting 2018 said there would be around 19,800 participants from 189 countries. The participants will be made up of 5,050 official delegates (including 50 domestic delegates), and 14,750 non-delegates (including 1,750 Indonesians).
The official delegates will include Finance Ministers and Central Bank leaders of the participating countries , and IMF and WB delegates.
The non-delegates will include parliamentarian, observers and journalists. Many of the delegates are also expected to come with members of their families. They will stay in Bali for at least nine days including one day before and after the end of the meeting.
The delegates are also expected to spend more days in Indonesia as it is already arranged visits to a number of major tourist destinations in the country.
One new destination is the 121 meter tall statue of Hindu God Wisnu, the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) in the village of Ungasan, Badung district the works of a big sculptor Nyoman Nuarta. The delegates to the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) are scheduled to have a gala dinner at the GWK Cultural Park, which is not very far from Denpasar.
There are more tourist objects in Bali such as the Ubud monkey forests, 23 kilometer north of the capital city.
Just across the narrow Lombok strait east of Bali, the delegates are expected to enjoy visit to the sparkling white sand beach of Mandalika, which is one of 10 tourist destinations in the national development priority list. There is massive development there that would match the world famous tourist island of Bali.
Further to the east, there is Labuan Bajo, the main access to the Komodo island the habitat of ancient dragon Komodo, which is found only on the Indonesian island across the western end of the Flores island in the East Nusa Tenggara. Komodo is one of the world`s seven natural wonders.
The delegates are also expected to take time to visit Lake Toba in North Sumatra. The government has begun to show serious attention to developing the tourist potential of Lake Toba and surrounding area. A new international airport has been built to facilitate transport of tourists to that area.
The IMF-WB annual meeting is the world`s largest economic conference this year. It would help promote Indonesia giving an opportunity for the country to present its achievements in the process of reformation, democracy and economic development in the wake of devastating 1997-1998 crisis, an Indonesian official has said.
ANTARA
