The Wall Street Journal has announced the launch of a website and Blackberry app in Indonesia, as the news organisation aims to expand its reach in Asia.

The organization has announced the appointments of Patrick McDowell as Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, as well as Armando Siahaan as editor for the Bahasa Indonesia website, to support the launch.

Lex Fenwick, chief executive officer of Dow Jones & Company and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said: “We believe that our macro-economic and business news, one of our specialties, has real value to people in different countries and cultures.

“We have a vision of re-purposing our content in many different languages, allowing us to deliver the breadth and depth of the Journal’s news and analysis to readers worldwide. We are building a truly global audience of key influencers that advertising customers can reach in a uniquely seamless and global way.”

The company has revealed that international traffic to the Wall Street Journal has increased from 15 per cent in 2008 to 35 per cent so far this year.