Foreign Minister Alwi to visit Vatican City

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab confirmed he would visit Vatican City on Wednesday to foster closer ties between the predominantly Muslim Indonesia and the leader of the Catholic Church.

Alwi said after meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid at Bina Graha presidential office that he was being sent to the Vatican to assure Pope John Paul II and the Catholic community in general that sectarian clashes of the type in Maluku were not endorsed by the Indonesian government.

"I will explain the situation in Maluku to the Pope and tell him of the government's commitment to ending the clashes," Alwi said.

During his three-day visit to the Vatican, Alwi will present a model of the Buddhist Borobudur Temple to the Museum of Vatican City.

Apart form his scheduled private audience with the Pope, Alwi is scheduled to meet with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lamberto Dini.

During his Italian visit, Alwi, a former lecturer at Harvard University in the United States, is expected to discuss the relationship between Christians and Muslims in the new millennium at Circolo di Roma.

Alwi is a member of the International Connections Committee and the American Academy of Religion in Atlanta, the U.S.

He will leave Italy on Sunday for Macau to represent Indonesia at Monday's handover of the island from Portugal to the People's Republic of China.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministry's press information office announced on Tuesday the planned Dec. 21 visit of a South Korean delegation headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Hong Soon-young.

The delegation is slated to meet with President Abdurrahman and Alwi, although the exact schedule is still being worked out.

President Abdurrahman met with his South Korean counterpart Kim Dae Jung on Nov. 26 in Manila during an informal summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

An officer from the South Korean Embassy here confirmed the planned visit, but refused to provide details of the purpose or schedule of the visit. (04/prb)