FIRST LADY OPENS NUSANTARA FOOD PRODUCT FAIR

Jakarta, Aug 7 (ANTARA) - First Lady Ani Yudhoyono in the company of Mufidah Kalla, the wife of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, opened a Nusantara (archipelago) Food Product fair here on Friday.

Held at the Jakarta Convention Center, the fair was organized by the trade ministry in cooperation with the United Indonesia Cabinet Wives Solidarity (SIKIB) in the framework of the Indonesia Creative Year 2009 which was declared by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in December 2008.

The fair, held for the fourth time, is participated in by more than one hundred small- and medium-scale businesses from all provinces in Indonesia.

The fair is intended to introduce and promote typical Indonesian culinary and packaged food products.

In the food exhibition, breadfruit was selected as an alternative staple food to replace flour because the breadfruit tree is easy to grow anywhere in Indonesia without special care.

In her address, Indonesia Creative Year 2009 organizing committee chairperson Mari Elka Pangestu said the event was being held at the initiative of First Lady Ani Yudhoyono.

Mari Pangestu, who is also the trade minister, said the first lady in 2008 proposed to conduct an Indonesia Creative fair to promote the country's various culinary potentials and other creative industry products.