Belgian FM arrives in Jakarta on 3-day visit

Belgian FM arrives in Jakarta on 3-day visit

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht arrived in Jakarta on
Friday for a three-day visit to hold talks with Indonesian
leaders and visit tsunami-hit Aceh.

"During his stay in Jakarta, Minister De Gucht will meet with
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda and State Minister of National Development Planning Sri
Mulyani," the Belgian embassy in Jakarta said in a statement sent
to The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian foreign ministry's director of
information and media Lutfi Rauf said that De Gucht would meet
Hassan on Saturday morning at the ministry.

De Gucht will also visit Meulaboh in Aceh on Sunday to inspect
the work being done by the Belgian First Aid and Support Team or
B-FAST along with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF)-Belgium, a
humanitarian non-governmental organization.

The B-Fast team -- which consists of personnel from the
Belgian Defense forces, Home Affairs and Red Cross -- brought
tents, generators, vehicles, food, stoves and medicine to
Meulaboh.

The team, which has been in Aceh since Jan. 21, has
contributed to the reinforcement of the United Nations base camp
in Meulaboh and provided help to the towns of Calang and Krueng
Sabe.

Last month, the Belgium government donated 30 million euros
(US$39 million) to help thousands of tsunami victims in Asia.
This included 15 million euros of emergency humanitarian aid and
the remaining 15 million euros for reconstruction.

The Belgian public also raised 1.67 million euros in donations
for tsunami victims.

Under the emergency humanitarian aid operation, Belgium sent a
plane-load of humanitarian aid to Medan, North Sumatra and
provided 740,000 euros for the B-Fast team in Aceh. It
contributed another 1.37 million euros for the defense operations
in Aceh and Sri Lanka.