Australia-RI ties improving

Australia-RI ties improving

JAKARTA (JP): Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on
Sunday that bilateral relations with Indonesia are greatly
improved following last week's ministerial meeting in Canberra.

Howard said in a televised interview Sunday that he was
pleased the meeting finally happened, adding: "The substance and
the atmosphere of the meeting was excellent.

"Our relations are improving," he said as reported by AFP from
Sydney.

"There's still a long way to go and you have to take it in a
measured way that is consistent with the political dignity of
each side, but we are seeing an improvement at the government
level and that's very encouraging."

Howard said he had long discussions with the five ministers,
particularly with Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab who has
been critical of Australia.

"But he indicated to me that, to use his own language, we're
on an upward rather than a downward (trend), and that's good,"
Howard said adding that he had had three productive meetings with
President Abdurrahman Wahid in Tokyo, New York and Brunei and
hoped he would now come to Australia.

"I hope the next meeting might be in Australia, but that's a
matter for him -- he's very welcome," he added.

Alwi said here on Saturday that President Abdurrahman Wahid
would visit Australia in February.

"Maybe the visit will be in the third or fourth week of
February," Alwi told a press conference at the Soekarno-Hatta
airport upon arrival from the ministerial meeting in Canberra.

Alwi said the final decision whether Abdurrahman would go
ahead with his Australia visit would be made by the President.

"Tomorrow (Sunday), we will meet with the President to report
the results of our meeting in Australia and after that the
President will decide (on the Australia visit)," Alwi said.

Alwi also said there was a possibility that Abdurrahman's
itinerary would include New Zealand.

It was not stated what would be on the agenda of Abdurrahman's
visit to New Zealand, but it is likely that the President would
discuss a proposal raised by Jakarta last month for a new
regional West Pacific Forum to group Australia, New Zealand, East
Timor, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and possibly the Philippines.

The President's planned visit to Australia has already been
delayed several times following strong opposition from the House
of Representatives and other political figures.

Ties between Jakarta and Canberra deteriorated last year after
Australia led an international peacekeeping force to East Timor
after the UN-organized ballot.

Analysts believe that the Australian-Indonesian Ministerial
Forum on Thursday and Friday, the fifth to be held since 1992,
will lead to a thaw in relations between the two countries.

Besides Alwi, other members of the Indonesian delegation who
attended the ministerial meeting were industry and trade minister
Luhut Panjaitan, agriculture minister Bungaran Saragih, national
education minister Yahya Muhaimin, as well as maritime and
fisheries minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja.

Separately, Alwi was quoted by Antara as saying that it was
still unclear whether Abdurrahman would attend the third summit
of the eight developing nations (D-8) in Cairo on Feb. 25.

"It hasn't been decided whether Gus Dur will attend the summit
or not," Alwi was quoted as saying referring to the President by
his nickname.

The news agency quoted an unnamed source at Egypt's foreign
ministry as saying that Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak had sent
Abdurrahman an invitation to attend the summit.

The D-8, which groups Iran, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nigeria and Indonesia, was established in 1997 by
former Turkish prime minister Necmettin Erbakan.

The first D-8 summit was held in Istanbul in 1997 and last
year's summit was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (byg)