Howard, Koizumi to attend tsunami conference
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi look set to head up the foreign delegates attending an international emergency summit to discuss the global response to the tsunami disaster here on Thursday.
United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan have also been slated to possibly attend the conference that will bring together officials from 23 countries.
Representatives from 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Sri Lanka and India will also send delegations to the unprecedented meeting.
Howard said that during the summit the world leaders would "discuss what we can and should further do".
Given the tremendous damage caused to countries with Indian Ocean coastlines, Koizumi has made the judgment that the national leader himself should attend Thursday's meeting, Jiji Press news agency said without citing sources.
At the one-day conference, Koizumi will convey Japan's willingness to help stem the spread of disease and assist with the reconstruction of affected areas, Kyodo News reported.
Japan had considered sending Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura to the gathering but reconsidered after Indonesia strongly requested Koizumi's presence, the report said.
Officials at the prime minister's office were unavailable for comment.
The global death toll from last Sunday's catastrophe surpassed 126,000 on Saturday, 80,000 of them in the Indonesian province of Aceh.
Foreign tourists, including Japanese and Australians, were among those who perished in the disaster.
Indonesia announced on Friday that it would host the summit to discuss tsunami devastation across Asia, to take stock and plan how to overcome one of the world's worst natural disasters.
On Saturday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla held a preparatory meeting for Thursday's summit with Minister for Finance Yusuf Anwar, Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda and Chairperson of National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
Kalla said the conference would seek to highlight the need for global solidarity to help tsunami-hit countries stem the spread of disease and reconstruct the affected areas.