Indonesian Foreign Minister to visit Russia - 25 September, 2002

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda is coming to Moscow for an official visit, reported the Information and Press Department of the Russian foreign ministry. The visit, which begins on Wednesday, starts off from St. Petersburg.

Having attended a number of cultural events in St. Petersburg, the foreign minister will move on to Moscow on Friday to hold negotiations with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov. He will also attend the first session of a Joint Russian-Indonesian Commission on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation.

"There is certain progress in view where military cooperation between Russia and Indonesia is concerned," a source in the Russian foreign ministry said in advance of Wirayuda's visit. "The Indonesian side has received the Russian draft of a framework agreement on military-and-technical cooperation, which is meant to replace a corresponding memorandum signed in 1996." In 2001, officials from Indonesia had attended the aerospace show MAKS-2001 in the town of Zhukovsky, Moscow region. In August of the same year, a delegation from Indonesia's Institute of National Defence had paid a visit to Russia.

The sides are also taking measures to develop trade and economic relations. In 2001, the volume of bilateral trade operations reached 203.5 million dollars /in 2000, it had amounted to 167.3 million/.

In May of 2002, a Russian-Indonesian agreement on the setting up of a Joint Commission on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation entered into force. In February of 2000, an Indonesian communications satellite Garuda-1 had been launched with the help of a Russian rocket launcher.

According to Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian foreign ministry's official spokesman, upcoming talks in Moscow will focus on "the effort to fight international terrorism and respond to global challenges." "Much attention will be paid to the situation in the Asia Pacific Region and expansion of cooperation between Russia, the Association of South East Nations and the ASEAN Regional Forum," said Yakovenko. He added that the sides would also discuss cooperation in the framework of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation organization.

Hasan Wirayuda's visit to Russia ends on September 28th.