JAKARTA  Indonesia dismissed fears of a virus re-assortment between avian and human seasonal influenza strains in a 2007 human death involving bird flu infection, the country’s health ministry senior official said here. Director General of Communicable Diseases I Nyoman Kandun said the possibility of re-assortment between the avian influenza virus and other flu viruses was always possible, but had not yet happened.

“When and where it will happen, nobody knows. Risk assessment therefore is very important,” Kandun was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying Thursday. Re-assortment of the highly pathogenic avian influenza and seasonal flu virus would give birth to a “new” virus that could be easily transmitted from human to human, resulting in a pandemic.

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JAKARTA Middle East investors plan to spend about two billion euro on projects in Indonesia, Bisnis Indonesia newspaper reported, citing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Emaar Properties PJSC, Pacific Inter-Link Sdn Bhd, Al Ghurair Group, Ras Al Khaimah and Limitless LLC are among the investors planning to enter Indonesia, Bisnis said.

The planned projects include a tourist resort, an oil palm plantation, an oil refinery, a port, a railway and properties, according to the newspaper. The fast-growing South Asian country is trying to attract foreign investments. At the same time Gulf countries flush with record oil revenues are increasingly looking abroad to invest.