Mahathir, Soeharto likely to discuss APEC issues
Mahathir, Soeharto likely to discuss APEC issues
JAKARTA (JP): The leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is likely to be discussed when
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad meets with President
Soeharto this weekend, an official says.
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono told reporters yesterday
that the preparations for the APEC meeting in Bogor this November
would be the focus of discussions between the two leaders.
Mahathir is scheduled to make an unofficial visit tomorrow and
Saturday in keeping with a tradition among leaders of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to hold periodic
consultations. He will be accompanied by Mrs. Mahathir, Foreign
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Defense Minister Najib Razak.
The prime minister is also scheduled to address an
international conference on human resources development organized
by the Jakarta-based Center for Information and Development
Studies (CIDES). The conference was opened by President Soeharto
last night.
Mahathir stayed away from the first APEC leadership meeting in
Seattle, the United States, last November complaining that
Washington, which then led the forum, was trying to
institutionalize APEC and exert its influence over other members.
The prime minister has agreed to attend the second leadership
meeting hosted by Soeharto in nearby Bogor in November.
Malaysia has been pushing for the establishment of an all
Asian economic grouping that will include economic giants Japan
and South Korea along with ASEAN countries. But the idea, which
has been opposed by the United States, failed to garner support
even from some ASEAN countries.
Compromise
As a compromise, ASEAN agreed to make the proposed group,
called the East Asia Economic Caucus, as a forum within APEC. But
even this idea has not been sold to Japan and South Korea.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas told reporters on a
separate occasion yesterday that the proposal of ASEAN leaders
meeting before the APEC leadership meeting has not been agreed by
all the leaders concerned so far.
ASEAN foreign ministers in their last meeting in Bangkok
agreed to recommend their leaders have one meeting ahead of the
APEC talks, Alatas said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand. Soeharto is scheduled to meet with
Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong later this month in
Indonesia.
Alatas said another probable agenda in the talks between
Soeharto and Mahathir will be the resolution of the conflict
between Indonesia and Malaysia over the ownership of the Sipadan
and Ligitan Isles off East Kalimantan.
The latest round of talks to resolve the dispute broke down in
Jakarta last week with Malaysia demanding an international
arbitration while Indonesia insisted the matter could still be
resolved bilaterally, or if not, through the ASEAN mechanism.
(emb)