Australia and RI officials to decide on tsunami aid
Australia and RI officials to decide on tsunami aid
Agencies, Canberra/Jakarta
An Indonesian Cabinet team will visit Canberra later this week to discuss how to spend an Australian pledge of A$1 billion ($787 million) in aid to redevelop tsunami-devastated Aceh.
Rebuilding the province's main hospital is likely to be among the first projects, Reuters reported on Wednesday citing officials as saying.
Australia's single largest aid pledge was made to its northern neighbor after the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis, which left nearly a quarter of a million people dead or listed as missing in Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
In total, more than 300,000 people were killed or are missing after the tsunami struck 13 Indian Ocean nations.
"We're getting on now with the rehabilitation of Aceh, not just the relief operations, but the rehabilitation," Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said on Wednesday.
"Aceh will have to have a lot of its infrastructure -- its schools, hospitals, water facilities, sanitation facilities -- rebuilt. There will also be quite a big training task. A lot of people were killed, for example people who worked in hospitals."
About nine Indonesian ministers, led by foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda and chief economics minister Aburizal Bakrie, will meet Australian ministers, led by Downer and treasurer Peter Costello, in Canberra for the partnership's first meeting on Thursday.
The initial projects to be targeted are due to be announced on Thursday and will likely include the rebuilding of the main hospital in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Australia's A$1 billion pledge consists of equal parts of grant assistance and concessional financing, offering Indonesia A$500 million interest free for up to 40 years, with no repayment of the principal for 10 years.
The construction of a new highway down the devastated west coast of Aceh has also been identified by Indonesia as a priority project and could also be targeted by the Australian aid package.
The Australian and Indonesian delegations will meet again on Friday for the countries' annual ministerial forum.
"We have to keep working at strengthening our relationship, addressing issues like counter-terrorism -- that still remains an important issue in our bilateral relationship," Downer said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said in Jakarta that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is set to fly to Australia in a two-day state visit later this month in a bid to strengthen the bilateral ties of both countries, which had shown significant developments recently.
The President has accepted an invitation from Australian Prime Minister John Howard and is scheduled to visit Canberra and Sydney on March 31 and conclude his trip in Sydney on the next day, Dino said on Wednesday.
"Relations between Indonesia and Australia are good. Prime Minister John Howard has a close relationship with the President, he is one of the foreign leaders who attended his inauguration," Dino said at the Presidential Office.
"There would be talks about politics, economics and social cultural," Dino said, without elaborating.
Aside from meeting Australian leaders, Susilo is also scheduled to hold a talk with Indonesian people living in the country.