Indian FM due here next week

JAKARTA: Indian Foreign Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha will arrive here Saturday for a four-day visit, a government official says.

Spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry Marty Natalegawa said on Friday that Sinha will attend an annual Joint Council meeting in Yogyakarta and hold bilateral talks with his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda.

The Indonesia-India Joint Commission meeting will start on Monday to discuss various issues, including banking supervisory cooperation between central banks of the two countries and tourism, agriculture and nuclear cooperation.

"The foreign minister is scheduled to pay a courtesy call to President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Tuesday, after the joint commission meeting in Yogyakarta," Marty said.

Aside from bilateral issues, the two ministers are also slated to discuss issues of common interests such as counter terrorism efforts and the recent situation in Iraq. --JP