Abdurrahman set to meet Australian PM John Howard
Abdurrahman set to meet Australian PM John Howard
CANBERRA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid will hold talks
with Australian Prime Minister John Howard here on Monday morning
in a bid to bury any perceived animosity between the two
countries.
While the official bilateral talks between the two leaders are
scheduled to last just one hour, the symbolic handshake and tete-
a-tete is hoped to rejuvenate ties battered over the past two
years by political disagreements.
Abdurrahman will meet with Howard shortly after touching down
in the Australian capital. This trip marks the first time an
Indonesian leader has visited Australia since the mid-1970s,
despite several trips to Indonesia by Australian prime ministers.
The meeting on Monday morning will be followed by an official
lunch.
The meeting is scheduled to cover a broad range of issues
covering political and economic cooperation between the two
countries, including the planned signing of a memorandum of
understanding on tourism.
The President left Jakarta on Sunday night aboard an
Indonesian Air Force Boeing-707 and was due to touch down in
Sydney at about 8 a.m. local time. From there he will take either
a small Australian Air Force Falcon jet or a Boeing-737 for the
half-hour flight to Canberra.
He is due to be met at the Canberra airport by Governor
General William Deane.
Expected to be included in the presidential entourage is First
Lady Shinta Nuriyah, Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab,
Minister of National Education Yahya Muhaimin, Minister of
Agriculture Bungaran Saragih, Minister of Maritime Affairs and
Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri and Presidential Secretary Abdul Mudjib
Manan.
Later on Monday afternoon, President Abdurrahman Wahid will
receive a courtesy call from opposition party leader Kim Beazley
at his presidential suite at the Hyatt Hotel.
In the evening Abdurrahman will attend a reception hosted by
the governor-general at the Government House.
A tentative meeting with the Canberra Indonesian Teachers
Association is also scheduled.
Abdurrahman will fly to Sydney on Tuesday, where he will stay
for one day. He will fly to New Zealand on Wednesday before
returning to Darwin.
While in Australia, Abdurrahman is also expected to meet with
the Australian business community and the Australia-Indonesia
Business Council.
In New Zealand, Abdurrahman will hold talks with Prime
Minister Sylvia Cartwright, as well as speaking at a seminar on
the role of Islam in Indonesia's history and political system.
The President will have a brief stopover in Manila before
returning to Jakarta.(mds)