French defense institute visits

JAKARTA (JP): A 98-member delegation from the French Institute for Advanced Studies on National Defense will start a five-day Indonesian mission tomorrow.

The French delegation will visit the Institute of National Defense (Lemhanas) and the Center for Information and Development Studies, a think tank belonging to the influential Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals.

The delegation will also attend conferences at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and at the Republika newspaper, which is also run by the Moslem intellectual association.

Led by Air Marshal Bernard Norlain, the delegation is due to pay courtesy calls on Vice President Try Sutrisno, Minister of Defense and Security Edi Sudrajat and Commander of the Armed Forces Gen. Feisal Tanjung.

The delegation will also visit the exploration site of French oil company Total on May 1.

Established after World War II, the institute is under the authority of the French prime minister. He determines each year the syllabus and the themes of the various studies to be conducted.

The institute's mission is to provide senior civil servants, senior military officers and senior executives from various fields with extensive information on national defense in its broader sense, a French embassy press release stated.(swe)