Chirac's envoy meets Soeharto for G-7 inputs
Chirac's envoy meets Soeharto for G-7 inputs
JAKARTA (JP): A special envoy of French President Jaques
Chirac, Bruno Durieux, yesterday met with President Soeharto here
to seek inputs for the upcoming Group of Seven (G-7) meeting in
Lion, France, next month.
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono told journalists that
Durieux, during his meeting with Soeharto, presented Chirac's
view that the upcoming G-7 meeting should provide a clear
direction for the current globalization process.
"This globalization process should be given a positive
direction so that it will benefit all parties and countries. This
includes not only developed, but also developing countries,"
Moerdiono quoted Durieux as saying.
He added that Soeharto supported Chirac's argument and
suggested that developed and developing countries form
partnerships to tackle existing and future problems.
"In the spirit of partnerships, there will be no room for
exploitation of the weak by the strong, of developing countries
by developed," Moerdiono quoted Soeharto as saying.
For the proposed partnerships, Soeharto suggested that
developed countries help finance the South-South cooperation
currently pursued by Indonesia to empower developing countries,
which are mostly located in the southern hemisphere.
During his visit here, Durieux also met with Coordinating
Minister for Economy and Finance Saleh Afiff, Minister of
Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo and Minister of Finance Mar'ie
Muhammad.
"Developed countries are beginning to realize that in this era
of economic integration and globalization, they alone will not be
able to tackle all the problems," Mar'ie told journalists after
receiving Durieux at his office here yesterday.
Mar'ie said he had received letters from his counterparts in
the G-7 which also requested inputs for the upcoming meeting.
Besides the G-7 meeting, Mar'ie said he and Durieux also
discussed matters related to the unfinished negotiations under
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, including those on
maritime transports, telecommunications and finance. (rid)