Dutch FM to visit Indonesia

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Netherlands' Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Bot will visit Indonesia next week to meet Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda in Jakarta to discuss bilateral relations and the forthcoming Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit, the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta said on Monday.

Apart from the discussion on the country's bilateral relations, "Bot will also talk about the upcoming visit of the European Union (EU) to Indonesia led by the Netherlands as holder of the current presidency, and the ASEM Summit in Hanoi in October," the Embassy said in a press release sent to The Jakarta Post.

The thorny issue of Myanmar's participation in Hanoi's summit has been posing a challenge to Dutch diplomacy since its takeover of the EU presidency on July 1, 2004.

The Netherlands, former colonial master of Indonesia, sent its former foreign minister Van den Broek to Asia last month on behalf of the EU to resolve a diplomatic ruckus over Myanmar's entry into the ASEM and rescue a planned summit in October in Hanoi.

But Broek's mission failed as both the EU and the Asian countries stuck to their guns.

Now, Bot himself is coming to Indonesia on a three-day visit from Aug. 25 to Aug. 27, apparently to woo Southeast Asia's key nation.

Bot had earlier suggested that European and Asian countries apply "combined pressure" to bring change in Myanmar, which is ruled by a military junta.

"Burma (Myanmar) should show some signs of goodwill," he was quoted as saying by DPA in June.

The relations between Indonesia and The Netherlands are cordial and have the potential to grow further.

Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Ruud Treffers told the Post that bilateral trade has long been in favor of Indonesia.

For example, Indonesia's exports to The Netherlands in 2003 stood at US$1.95 billion, whereas Dutch exports to Indonesia were just over $300 million during the same period. -- JP