PRESIDENT OPENS 'BULOGVAGANZA'

Jakarta, May 8 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here on Friday morning officially opened "Bulogvaganza", a series of activities organized to mark the 42nd anniversary of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The president was accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono when opening the event at the Balai Kartini multi-purpose hall.

Bulog Chairman Mustafa Abubakar in his speech said Bulog had worked over the past 42 years to strengthen the country's food resilience.

During the period, Bulog had experienced many ups and downs as well as dynamic developments affecting its organizational stricture, he said.

He recalled that when Bulog became a public corporation (Perum) in 2003, the consequence was that the agency's employees had to change their mindset and ways of working.

"The process was not easy because it took quite a long time to adapt to the new status and transform itself into a state company," Abubakar said.

The Bulogvaganza activities include a workshop on food resilience and a food exhibition dubbed "Indonesian Food Exotic ".

On the occasion, a joint statement was signed by food managers of ASEAN member countries. The signatories included Encik Wan Razif W. Musa of Bernas of Malaysia, Jessup P. Navarro of the National Food Authority (NFA) of the Philippines, Tran Dong Kinh of Vietnam's Vinafood 2, Nattira Leewarepoorn of the Thai Public Warehouse Organization (PWO).

Bulog also signed human resource development cooperation agreements on Applied Logistic Education, with the Bandung Institute of Technology, and on Food Management Education with the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.

A cooperation agreement on cassava development was also signed by Bulog, PT Sriboga Raya, and PT Nectar Agro Nusantara.
Bulog Chief Abubakar recently said national rice production in the past two years had increased by 5 percent to reach 2.34 million tons in 2008 after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched a national food resilience program in 2007.