RI offers Burkina Faso plane-for-cotton deal<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday proposed to swap
\nIndonesian-built planes for Burkina Faso's cotton during a
\nmeeting with Blaise Compaore, his counterpart from the West
\nAfrican state.<\/p>\n
The offer was made before they witnessed the signing of an
\neconomic and technical cooperation agreement by their foreign
\nministers, Ali Alatas of Indonesia and Ablasse Ouedraogo of
\nBurkina Faso.<\/p>\n
Minister\/State Secretary Moerdiono told reporters that during
\nthe meeting the President reviewed two possible ways of financing
\nthe sales of Indonesian planes to Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n
One is through barter, in exchange for cotton, which Indonesia
\nhas been importing from Burkina Faso. Another is by obtaining
\ncredit from the Islamic Development Bank, which has schemes to
\nfinance trade within the Organization of Islamic Conferences.<\/p>\n
As part of his four-day visit, Compaore will travel to
\nBandung, West Java, today to inspect the plant of the state
\naircraft manufacturer IPTN. He and his entourage will later
\ntravel to Bali to spend the remaining two nights there before
\nleaving the country.<\/p>\n
Moerdiono said the economic and technical cooperation
\nagreement signed yesterday would act as an umbrella for future
\nagreements between the two countries.<\/p>\n
\"The two leaders felt that the visit is quite a significant
\nbeginning because of the high level talks and the signing of the
\nagreement. They hope other agreements will follow,\" he said.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, the two leaders agreed that Indonesia will
\nsend a trade delegation to Burkina Faso to explore the
\npossibility of investing in the cotton industry there. By helping
\nto build spinning mills, Indonesian textile companies would only
\nneed to import threads rather than the cotton, Moerdiono said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia also offered to help Burkina Faso develop its
\nagriculture sector, including fisheries, and also forestry,
\ntourism, telecommunications sectors and the training of Burkina
\nFaso's aviators.<\/p>\n
Funding for these programs, Moerdiono explained, could be
\nobtained from third party sources.<\/p>\n
President Soeharto also explained at length about Indonesia's
\npolicy on East Timor.<\/p>\n
Jakarta never had any ambition to annex the former Portuguese
\ncolony, and it was the East Timorese who chose to become part of
\nIndonesia, Moerdiono said.<\/p>\n
\"The President tried to convince his guest, that, seen from
\nany angle, there was no reason whatsoever for Indonesia to annex
\nEast Timor or any other territory for that matter,\" he said,
\nstressing the already huge territory and population Indonesia
\ncovers.<\/p>\n
\"My impression is that the Burkina Faso president fully
\nunderstood Indonesia's position,\" the minister said.<\/p>\n
Compaore, in response to President Soeharto, said he would
\norder his ambassador at the United Nations to maintain closer
\nrelations with the Indonesian delegation, according to Moerdiono.
\n(emb)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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