World Batik Exhibition

Theorganizing committee of the World Batik Summit (WBS) here hopes to record Rp22billion worth of transactions during the five-day event.

"We hope to achieve an increase in the value of transactions compared totwo years ago when the figure was Rp18 billion," Chairwoman of the WBS`sWorld Batik Exhibition (WBE) Murniati Widodo said here on Friday.

The World Batik Summit`s program will include a World Batik Exhibition wherebatik trade transactions are expected to take place.

"The number of participants is expected to be much higher than during aprevious exhibition, so the quantity of business transactions will alsoincrease significantly. Besides, the quality of batik products made inIndonesia and other countries has also improved," Murniati said.

The WBE will become a promotion forum for batik producers, practitioners,craftsmen, and businessmen.

The exhibition will have three themes, namely :"Multi-Partnership:Bringing Batik To The World", "Batik`s Contribution to the CreativeEconomy", and "Batik as a Cultural Heritage: Conservation andModernization".

"Up to now, 641 people from a number of countries have already registeredfor participation in the summit. It is double the figure last year," Murniatisaid.

She said the number of participants might reach over 700.

The World Batik Exhibition is a biennial event, while the first and only WorldBatik Conference was organized in 1997.

The Indonesian Batik Foundation in cooperation with the government willorganize the World Batik Summit which will consist of two main events, namelythe World Batik Exhibition (WBE) and the World Batik Conference (WBC) fromSeptember 28 to October 2, 2011.

The event themed "Indonesia Global Home of Batik" will be officiallyopened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Jakarta Convention Hall inJakarta

Indonesia's tourism ambassador to perform Mandau Dance

Indonesia’sTourism ambassador 2010 Alessandra Khadijah Usman, who will represent Indonesiaat the 2011 Miss Asia-Pacific World Competition in South Korea on Saturday,will perform the Dayak tribe Mandau Dance.

She had begun preparations to perform the Mandau Dance, which she learned atthe Central Kalimantan pavilion at the Indonesia Miniature Park (TMII) in EastJakarta a few months before the event. The dance will become a primary part ofher talent show.

She will also wear various Indonesian traditional costumes, such as exoticBatik patterns combining themes from Solo and Bali as well as Batik from ParangKencana and other clothes from the Delami Group.

“This is the first event where I represent Indonesia. This is a real challengebecause this competition does not only measure our beauty, but also talent andother skills,” she said Friday as quoted by tribunnews.com.