Hassan to address Davos panel

Hassan to address Davos panel

JAKARTA: Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda will take part in a panel discussion on Islam at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Friday.

Wirayuda and others will discuss political Islam and its discontents at the forum in Switzerland, foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on Wednesday.

Other speakers will include Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad, Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and the chairman of the World Muslim Congress, Abdullah O. Nasseef, he said.

The discussion will be moderated by Thomas Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist with the New York Times.

Wirayuda will then attend a ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union (EU) in Brussels on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28.

Among the topics to be discussed will be cooperation in battling terror and transnational crime, and the issues of Iraq and North Korea, the spokesman said.

Wirayuda is also to hold bilateral meetings with EU Secretary- General Javier Solana and the foreign ministers of Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Germany and Austria.

The minister leaves for Davos Thursday and is expected back in Jakarta on Jan. 29. --AFP