Foreign Minister Alwi to visit Vatican City
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)