German President to visit Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): German President Johannes Rau is to visit Indonesia in February, the foreign information office at the Indonesian foreign ministry said in a statement here on Friday.

The statement said that Rau would visit Indonesia from Feb. 19 through Feb. 22 to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.

After meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid, Rau is scheduled to visit Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Balikpapan in East Kalimantan.

Karl Carstens was the last German president to visit Indonesia in 1984.

In November, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer met with Abdurrahman in Jakarta.

Rau will become the third foreign top state official to visit Indonesia this year after Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Brazilian president Fernando Hendrique Cardoso. (byg)