Abdurrahman receives red carpet welcome in Britain

Abdurrahman receives red carpet welcome in Britain

LONDON (Agencies): Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid arrived here on Tuesday to a red carpet welcome and looked set to receive the full political backing of British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Indonesia's reforms.

"The prime minister will tell him Britain fully supports what he is doing," Blair's spokesman told reporters hours before the two heads of government were due to meet at Downing Street at about 8:30 p.m..

The spokesman said Blair would congratulate Abdurrahman on his efforts to bring those responsible for violence in East Timor to justice, for reestablishing democracy and for pushing through economic reforms.

As well as meeting Blair, the President will hold talks with Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and International Development Secretary Clare Short.

Earlier in the day, British Foreign Office minister John Battle, back from a trip to Indonesia, said the country had been "transformed".

"There's now a democratically elected parliament, there's the first democratically chosen president for many, many years, the first civilian defense minister ... they have a human rights minister ... so I think the situation has dramatically changed, there's a new situation and a new emerging democracy now in Indonesia," he told BBC radio.

Two weeks ago, Britain announced it was lifting an arms embargo against Indonesia in line with a European Union ruling.

Abdurrahman is currently on his third stop of a lightening 13 nation 16-day overseas tour of European, Middle Eastern and Asian countries.