Joint team to follow up RI-Czech agreements
Joint team to follow up RI-Czech agreements
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri said on Wednesday that Indonesia
and the Czech Republic would form a joint commission to follow up
talks over cooperation between the military and in the
agriculture industry.
The agreement to set up the joint commission followed
Megawati's meeting with Czech President Vaclav Havel.
"We agreed to improve communication between the two countries
by setting up a joint commission to follow up on the
understandings reached," Megawati was quoted by Antara in Prague,
Czech.
She said the two countries would promote cooperation in the
purchase and supply of military equipment.
She gave no details on the type of equipment. But earlier,
Director General of Defense Strategy at the Defense Ministry,
Maj. Gen. Sudrajat said the military cooperation might involve
the production of electronic equipment, explosives, aircraft,
firearms and small- and medium-caliber ammunition.
Indonesia is also eying military equipment from Slovakia,
which until the early nineties was part of the Czechoslovakia
Republic.
Due to a U.S. military embargo, Indonesia is looking for
alternatives in the European arms industry.
Some of Indonesia's U.S. military products, such as the
sophisticated yet costly F-16 fighter jets, are now idle due to
the absence of spare parts.
A tight military budget also forces Indonesia to look to
Eastern Europe where former communist countries own cheaper but
advanced weaponry.
In the agri-industrial field, Megawati said Indonesia's Agency
for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) and the
Czech company Skoda were exploring cooperation to improve the
production capacity of Indonesian sugar mills.
The local sugar industry has been hit by an influx of imported
sugar, hurting producers with low prices. The government believes
sugar mills operate inefficiently.
Megawati left Czech for Slovakia on Wednesday.
Slovakia is the last stop in Megawati's 14-day Europe tour
covering also Italy, Britain and Austria. She is scheduled to
return on Saturday.