Belgian FM arrives in Jakarta on 3-day visit<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht arrived in Jakarta on
\nFriday for a three-day visit to hold talks with Indonesian
\nleaders and visit tsunami-hit Aceh.<\/p>\n
\"During his stay in Jakarta, Minister De Gucht will meet with
\nVice President Jusuf Kalla, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
\nWirayuda and State Minister of National Development Planning Sri
\nMulyani,\" the Belgian embassy in Jakarta said in a statement sent
\nto The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Indonesian foreign ministry's director of
\ninformation and media Lutfi Rauf said that De Gucht would meet
\nHassan on Saturday morning at the ministry.<\/p>\n
De Gucht will also visit Meulaboh in Aceh on Sunday to inspect
\nthe work being done by the Belgian First Aid and Support Team or
\nB-FAST along with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF)-Belgium, a
\nhumanitarian non-governmental organization.<\/p>\n
The B-Fast team -- which consists of personnel from the
\nBelgian Defense forces, Home Affairs and Red Cross -- brought
\ntents, generators, vehicles, food, stoves and medicine to
\nMeulaboh.<\/p>\n
The team, which has been in Aceh since Jan. 21, has
\ncontributed to the reinforcement of the United Nations base camp
\nin Meulaboh and provided help to the towns of Calang and Krueng
\nSabe.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Belgium government donated 30 million euros
\n(US$39 million) to help thousands of tsunami victims in Asia.
\nThis included 15 million euros of emergency humanitarian aid and
\nthe remaining 15 million euros for reconstruction.<\/p>\n
The Belgian public also raised 1.67 million euros in donations
\nfor tsunami victims.<\/p>\n
Under the emergency humanitarian aid operation, Belgium sent a
\nplane-load of humanitarian aid to Medan, North Sumatra and
\nprovided 740,000 euros for the B-Fast team in Aceh. It
\ncontributed another 1.37 million euros for the defense operations
\nin Aceh and Sri Lanka.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/belgian-fm-arrives-in-jakarta-on-3-day-visit-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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