Indonesia offers coal supply to Bihar

Indonesia today offered to supply coal to Bihar for thermal power plants.

The offer was made by Indonesian Ambassador to India Lt Gen (Retd) Andi M Ghalib during his meeting with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar here this afternoon.

Emerging from the meeting, Kumar said the Indonesian envoy made the offer "and we will explore the possibilities and  take up the matter with the Centre as to whether the coal from that country be made available to us for thermal plants here."

Kumar said both India and Indonesia shared strong cultural relations since ancient times and promotion of tourism between the two countries can further strengthen the bilateral relations.

He recalled that Indonesian president had visited New Delhi and participated in the Republic Day function on the sidelines of which several agreements were signed between the two countries on commerce, trade and tourism.

Showering praise on Nitish Kumar for the development of Bihar, the Indonesian Ambassador said there had been marked improvement in the fields of agriculture, education, health and other social sectors, besides development of infrastructure carried out under the leadership of Kumar.

"We will be happy to supply coal to Bihar for thermal power plants," he said.

Earlier, the Indonesian ambassador emphasised on the need to encourage cultural tourism between the two countries and said that his country has been issuing to the Indians visas on arrival since 2002.

Referring to the construction of the Nalanda university through multilateral cooperation, he said his country too was making monetary contributions towards reviving the great and ancient educational institution.