Habibie receives German expo participants
Habibie receives German expo participants
JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie is feeling right at home
with his foreign guests here for a three-day visit, days filled
with meeting delegates from Germany, where he spent his younger
years.
On Saturday morning at Merdeka Palace, the President received
parliament members Hans Martin Bury, Gudrun Kupp, Gunnar Uldall
and Margareta Wolf, who are from four political parties.
"We asked him what sectors of our infrastructure industry
(Germany could provide) would be helpful for Indonesia's economic
recovery," Bury said after the meeting.
Habibie also told them that the next government, as a result
of a June general election, will likely be similar with the
current situation in Germany, where the government is formed by a
coalition of parties.
Later in the afternoon, he held an exclusive interview with
the dailies Frankfurter Algemeine and Die Neue Zuricher Zeitung.
According to presidential spokeswoman Dewi Fortuna Anwar,
Germany's press has put in the most applications for exclusive
interviews with the President.
"This is likely because the President has a long relation with
Germany," Dewi said recently.
Germany has become like a second home for Habibie's family.
Habibie studied and worked in Germany from 1955 to 1974. His two
sons, Ilham Akbar and Thariq Kemal were both born in Germany.
Habibie returned to Indonesia on the request of then president
Soeharto to develop Indonesia's technology.
"He often tells us that when he is no longer president this
year, his first priority is to take a vacation to Germany," his
aides have said.
On Friday evening, Habibie hosted a formal dinner to honor
participants of TECHNOGERMA Jakarta '99, a week-long industry and
technology exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center.
The President's predinner speech was preceded by remarks from
Minister of Industry and Trade Rahardi Ramelan. According to the
protocol list Germany was represented by the state of Baden-
Wurttemberg's prime minister, Erwin Teufel, and Germany's
Minister for Economics and Technology Affairs Werner Muller.
During the dinner, guests were entertained by cultural shows
from Java, Bali and Aceh, and an angklung orchestra of bamboo
instruments. An orchestra from Germany's city of music, Bremen,
the Deutsche Kammerphiharmonie Bremen, also entertained Habibie
and his guests.
On Sunday, Habibie is scheduled to inaugurate PT German Center
Indonesia at Bumi Serpong Damai in Serpong, West Java.
The President will open the TECHNOGERMA Jakarta '99 exhibition
on Monday morning, for which aides have given him more time.
Habibie was originally scheduled to open the exhibition at 10
a.m., after which he was due to open, at 11 a.m., a congress to
be held by an association of private universities.
"We changed the schedule because as a technologist, he wants
to spend more time to enjoy the exhibition," an official said on
Saturday.
Germany is one of Indonesia's major trading partners and a
major source of investment and foreign aid. In 1997, Indonesian
exports to Germany reached DM4 billion, and imports from Germany
reached DM5.2 billion. (prb)