Chancellor Kohl arrives here to enhance economic ties
Chancellor Kohl arrives here to enhance economic ties
JAKARTA (JP): German Chancellor Helmut Kohl arrived here
yesterday for a four-day visit focusing on enhancing economic and
trade ties.
His German air force jet touched down at Jakarta's Halim
Perdanakusuma military-civilian airport at 4:35 p.m. Kohl,
casually dressed, was met by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali
Alatas and State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie
as he descended from the plane.
Included in Kohl's entourage of 125 people are Minister of
Economics Gunter Rexrodt, Minister of Tourism and
Telecommunications Wolfgang Botsch, and Minister of Education and
Technology and Research Jurgen Rutgers.
Also here is a delegation of more than 70 business leaders who
arrived earlier to attend an Industry and Technology Forum. The
forum was opened earlier yesterday by Habibie, who is German
educated, and Rexrodt.
The chancellor immediately boarded a helicopter to be taken on
a leisurely visit to the Thousand Islands, a holiday area in the
Java Sea north of here.
He stayed the night at a private resort on Bira Island and is
spending today on a fishing trip with President Soeharto. Later
today, Kohl and Soeharto will leave Bira Island by boat for
Jakarta where Kohl will spend the night at the Grand Hyatt
Jakarta Hotel.
The official part of Kohl's visit will take place tomorrow,
when he will hold bilateral talks with Soeharto primarily focused
on trade and economic relations.
The state guest will also witness the signing of an agreement
on maritime shipping by Alatas and Wolfgang Botsch. The
chancellor will also receive from Soeharto a medal declaring him
an honorary member of the Indonesian Engineers' Association.
Kohl is scheduled to address the association's gathering and
pay a courtesy call on Vice President Try Sutrisno.
Tomorrow evening, Soeharto will host a state banquet for Kohl
at the Jakarta Convention Center, instead of the State Palace due
to the large number of delegates.
Indonesia's Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said last week
that Kohl's large entourage demonstrated that his government
placed great importance on the visit.
Foreign news services, including AFP, reported that German
members of parliament had called on the chancellor to raise the
issue of human rights in Indonesia during talks with President
Soeharto.
Junior Foreign Minister Helmut Schaefer said the human rights
record in Indonesia, which has been the subject of talks between
Bonn and Jakarta since 1993, was unsatisfactory.
Andreas Krautscheid, a member of Kohl's Christian Democrat
Union, described the situation in East Timor, as "unacceptable",
but hailed the chancellor's intention to raise the matter in his
talks with President Soeharto.
Kohl is scheduled to visit the Philippines and Japan before
returning home. (swe)