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)