All ASEAN leaders have arrived for Summit<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali<\/p>\n
Amid her preparations to chair the two-day ASEAN summit
\nstarting on Tuesday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri also
\nreceived courtesy calls from several of her counterparts.<\/p>\n
Her first visitor was Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal
\nBolkiah. She then received Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van
\nKhai, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Chinese Prime
\nMinister Wen Jiabao. She spent 30 minutes with each of them.
\nMinister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda accompanied her
\nduring the meetings.<\/p>\n
Briefing reporters after the meeting with the Brunei leader,
\nHassan said the sultan had underlined his country's strong
\ncommitment to fighting terrorism, referring to Brunei's readiness
\nto sign the Accession of Brunei to the Agreement of Information
\nExchange and Establishment of Communication Procedures on Sunday
\nevening.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, with the Vietnamese prime minister, Megawati
\ndiscussed the need to further step up the two countries'
\ncooperation in agriculture, especially in the negotiations at the
\nWorld Trade Organization (WTO), and in dealing with farm product
\ntransactions with developed countries like Japan so as to
\nencourage them to import more products from the two countries.<\/p>\n
In the first meeting between the two leaders after Jiabao was
\nelected as prime minister late last year, they also exchanged
\nviews on a series of regional conflicts, such as North Korea and
\nterrorism.<\/p>\n
\"We discussed how to strengthen and widen the cooperation
\nbetween Indonesia and China,\" Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Li
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the ninth Association
\nof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, where China is
\nattending the meeting as a dialog partner of the regional
\ngrouping.<\/p>\n
\"The Prime Minister briefed the President on the recent
\ndevelopments in the Korean peninsula and they indicated that
\nthere would be another meeting to try to settle the dispute
\npeacefully,\" Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan
\nWirayuda said after the meeting.<\/p>\n
The minister further added that this development showed the
\nsuccess of the efforts made by the Chinese government to help
\nsettle the nuclear crisis.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political and Security
\nAffairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that President Megawati
\nfully supported the ongoing efforts to end the nuclear crisis.<\/p>\n
The two leaders also witnessed the signing of two Memorandums
\nof Understanding on Chinese government grants and the provision
\nof export credit for the supply of electrical equipment to
\nIndonesia from China.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Indonesian President held separate meetings with
\nBrunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Vietnamese Prime
\nMinister Phan Van Khai.<\/p>\n
In her meeting with the Sultan, the two leaders discussed the
\nmeasures that could be taken to improve tourism and foreign
\ninvestment in both countries.<\/p>\n
Hassan said that during the meeting Brunei had also underlined
\nits commitment to jointly fighting terrorism in the region with
\nthe country's accession to the agreement on information exchange,
\nwhich was earlier signed by Indonesia, Malaysia and the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
\"They noted the importance of sharing information to
\nstrengthen security cooperation in fighting terrorism,\" the
\nIndonesian minister said after the meeting.<\/p>\n
Brunei signed the agreement late on Sunday, on the sidelines
\nof the meeting between ASEAN member countries foreign ministers.<\/p>\n
With Vietnam, Hassan said that the two leaders had discussed
\nthe possibilities of further improving cooperation in trade
\nmatters, especially in dealing with the World Trade Organization
\n(WTO) and developed countries like Japan.<\/p>\n
Developing countries that mostly rely for their economic
\ndevelopment on agriculture have repeatedly criticized the
\npolicies of many develop countries, which provide huge subsidies
\nfor their farmers.<\/p>\n
The issue prevented an agreement being reached during the
\nlatest WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, last month.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/all-asean-leaders-have-arrived-for-summit-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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