Indonesia to attends IDEA meeting

Indonesia to attends IDEA meeting

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia will attend a ministerial meeting on Aug. 12 in Tokyo, Japan, aimed at strengthening cooperation between the Association of South East Asia Nations and Japan, South Korea and China (ASEAN+3).

Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marty Nata Legawa said on Friday that Minister of Foreign Affairs Hasan Wirajuda would represent Indonesia at the meeting.

The meeting is called the Initiative for Development in East Asia (IDEA) ministerial meeting.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by its Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi would host the meeting, said Marty.

He added that foreign and development ministers from ASEAN, South Korea and China would also be present at the meeting.

Marty went on to explain that IDEA was a new initiative launched by the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in January, 2002 when he visited the ASEAN countries.

IDEA is aimed at developing cooperation in ASEAN+3, he said.

It was also a consultative forum to discuss various issues ranging from development policies, economic problems to regional development vision, he added.

The forum would also address an assessment on the procedures and capital availability for Asian development, said Marty.

In addition, IDEA would help technology and skills transfers as well as exchanges of views on multilateral development through the dissemination of the forum's results, he added.