Dutch FM to visit Indonesia

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