Indonesia and Bosnia sign joint communique in New York
Indonesia and Bosnia sign joint communique in New York
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia and Bosnia-Herzegovina solidified
their diplomatic ties on Monday by signing a joint communique in
New York to formerly establish representatives in their
respective states.
The communique was signed by Indonesia's permanent ambassador
to the United Nations Nugroho Wisnumurti and Bosnian Vice-
President Ejup Ganik at the UN Secretariat building in New York
City.
"This is just confirmation of the relations that already exist
between the two states," Irawan Abidin told The Jakarta Post here
yesterday.
During a visit to Jakarta earlier this year Bosnian President
Alija Izetbegovic agreed that the two countries should formerly
establish diplomatic ties.
Neither Nugroho nor Ejup revealed exactly when the two
countries would install their representatives, saying only that
it would come soon.
Despite their restrained comments, Achmad Tahir, the Non-
Aligned Movement's (NAM) ambassador-at-large to Europe, revealed
during an inspection of Bosnia's future embassy on Jl. Agus Salim
some weeks ago, that the embassy would be open by May.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas has also expressed
confidence that Bosnian representatives can be established within
the year.
The site of the seven-room Rp 3.5 billion (US$1.65 million)
embassy located in the posh Menteng district was donated by
Chinese entrepreneur H. Yukeng.
Currently Bosnian matters are handled through its
representatives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Irawan said Indonesia will not at the present time open an
embassy in Sarajevo, but will accredit it to a non-resident
ambassador from a nearby mission.
"It will be located at one of our embassies in a neighboring
country," he explained.
At present, Indonesia maintains embassies in Budapest, Vienna,
Bucharest, Sofia and Athens.
In a separate development, the government has decided to
donate US$25,000 to the people of Laos who are at the moment
suffering severe famine as a result of a prolonged dry season.
The aid will be sent to the Indonesian embassy in Vientiane
where it will then be promptly handed to government officials on
behalf of the Laotian people, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
said in a statement. (07)