Post-tsunami deal on debt swap signed<\/p>\n
Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Italy and Indonesia agreed on Wednesday to swap some of Jakarta's
\ndebt for the reconstruction of tsunami-affected areas in northern
\nSumatra and poverty alleviation programs.<\/p>\n
Italian Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver and Indonesian
\nMinister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda signed the debt-to-
\ndevelopment swap worth US$24.2 million and 5.7 million euros.<\/p>\n
Under the deal, the two governments will set up a \"management
\ncommittee\". Indonesia will be represented on the committee by the
\nOffice of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, while Italy
\nwill be represented by the Italian Embassy in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The joint committee will be responsible for monitoring the
\ntransparency and accountability of the projects.<\/p>\n
Mahendra Siregar, deputy to the coordinating minister for
\ninternational economic cooperation, said the deal would allow the
\ngovernment to allocate funds to rebuild Aceh and North Sumatra,
\nwhile at the same time reducing Indonesia's foreign debt.<\/p>\n
The two countries will later sign an agreement on which
\nrehabilitation projects should be prioritized.<\/p>\n
The projects, Mahendra added, would depend on the
\nreconstruction blueprint for Aceh currently being drawn up by the
\nNational Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).<\/p>\n
The deal is a follow-up on Hassan's visit to Rome in January
\nto drum up post-tsunami aid.<\/p>\n
The agreement signed on Wednesday is also based on the April
\n2002 Paris Club III agreement on debt swaps, as well as a
\nmemorandum of understanding between Indonesia and Italy on debt
\nrescheduling signed in early December last year.<\/p>\n
Mahendra hopes the debt swap will encourage other creditor
\ncountries to consider similar agreements with Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Germany swapped a total of 48.5 million euros of
\nIndonesia's debt for education projects, and some 50 million
\neuros for environmental projects.<\/p>\n
Jakarta is also in talks with the British government to
\nfinalize a deal to swap some of its debt for a project that
\nwould provide Indonesia with up to 1,000 public buses.<\/p>\n
Only recently, the government began talks with France on
\nswapping some $65 million of Indonesia's debt for investments.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/post-tsunami-deal-on-debt-swap-signed-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}