Bhutto brings along 80 business leaders
Bhutto brings along 80 business leaders
JAKARTA (JP): Pakistani Prime Minister Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto will be bringing along at least 80 business leaders when she visits Indonesia for three days beginning tomorrow.
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, in announcing the visit at his office yesterday, said one of the main objectives of the visit, which is at the invitation of President Soeharto, is to promote economic and trade relations between the countries.
The two leaders will witness the signing of an agreement on economic and technical cooperation and investment guarantee during Bhutto's visit, Moerdiono said.
Bhutto will be accompanied by her husband Asif Ali Zardari, and ministers of foreign affairs, trade, defense, food and agriculture, and oil and natural resources.
She will also attend a luncheon hosted by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Her husband will hold meetings with Indonesian business leaders and will take part in Friday mass prayers at the Jakarta Convention Center.
Bhutto, the daughter of slain Pakistan prime minister Ali Bhutto, will hold meetings with Soeharto's children Siti Hardiyanti, Bambang Trihatmodjo and Hutomo Mandala Putra -- all three head business empires of their own.
She has also scheduled a meeting with Megawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of former president Sukarno and now chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party. The two women have known one another since the days when their fathers were in power.
On Saturday, Bhutto and her entourage will proceed to Bali, where she will spend one night before heading back to Pakistan.
Moerdiono said relations between Indonesia and Pakistan go back to the mid-1940s when Indonesia was fighting for independence and Pakistan was still part of British India.
Many Pakistanis sent as part of the British India army to quell the independence movement in Indonesia defected and joined the republican army, he said.
"Since then, relations have grown stronger," Moerdiono said. (emb)