Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The organizing committee of the World Batik Summit (WBS) here hopes to record Rp22 billion worth of transactions during the five-day event.

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

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

"The number of participants is expected to be much higher than during a previous exhibition, so the quantity of business transactions will also increase significantly. Besides, the quality of batik products made in Indonesia 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 Creative Economy", and "Batik as a Cultural Heritage: Conservation and Modernization".

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

She said the number of participants might reach over 700.

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

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

The event themed "Indonesia Global Home of Batik" will be officially opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Jakarta Convention Hall in Jakarta. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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