Habibie to attend ASEM

Habibie to attend ASEM

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President B.J. Habibie will attend the
forthcoming Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in London early next
month, a government official said yesterday.

This visit will be the Vice President's second overseas trip
in two weeks, as he is already scheduled to pay an official visit
to Tokyo on Wednesday.

"The President has assigned Pak Habibie to assist him in
international forums," the official, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

In his speech before announcing his new cabinet lineup
Saturday, Soeharto said that Habibie would assist him in
international forums such as the United Nations, Non-Aligned
Movement, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Islamic
Conference, the Asia-Europe Meeting and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.

Habibie will arrive in Tokyo Wednesday and stay until Friday.
He is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro
Hashimoto, top bankers, and industrialists.

"We are deeply proud with Habibie's choice to visit Japan as
his first international performance," a Japanese diplomat said
last week.

On March 5, British Junior Foreign Minister Derek Fatchett
conveyed to President Soeharto an invitation from Prime Minister
Tony Blair to attend the meeting.

During his visit here, Fatchett said that the current economic
turmoil in Southeast Asia and East Asia would likely become the
major agenda of the summit.

In the coming three-day meeting in London, Habibie will also
likely face Portugal's maneuver to raise the East Timor issue.

The United Nations still regards Portugal the administering
power in the province, which joined Indonesia as its 27th
province in 1976. (prb)