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)