Cilembu Sweet Potatoes Goes to HONGKONG.

Agriculture Minister Suswono held an official ceremony in Jakarta on Thursday to mark the inaugural export of local products, including the famous ubi cilembu (sweet potato), to Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.

The Ubi Cilembu Agribusiness Pioneer Group (KAUCP) was ready to start exporting ubi cilembu to Hong Kong and Singapore next month and to Thailand in September, kompas.com reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Alamanda Farmers Group through CV Rian Karya will begin to export lucku bamboo products to Azerbaijan, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia in August.

In September, they plan to send the bamboo to the Netherlands and Turkey.

Suswono also certified CV Sumber Buah during the ceremony, allowing the company to export mangoes to Dubai in August.

The minister said that the exports were part of the government's efforts to better promote Indonesian products in the international market.

During the ceremony, the 40 agribusiness groups that participate in the export program signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen their collaboration in improving their products, to increase their competitiveness in the global market.

The Sari Buah Tabanan group, for instance, is set to work with giant retailer PT Carrefour to develop its mangosteens. (nfo)