Mega busy with planned visits of foreign guests

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The visit of President Megawati Soekarnoputri to no less than 27 countries has been fruitful, as foreign leaders have shown an interest in returning her visits to their country or the leaders wish to get first-hand information from the President.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs official schedule, in January alone she will receive three prime ministers.

And, if she wishes, she still has a chance to add to the list of foreign country's visited before the legislative general election in April and the country's first presidential election in July. Iran and Venezuela are on the schedule of her next tour in February.

Zimbabwe's controversial leader Robert Mugabe will be her first foreign visitor. He will come to Jakarta for a private visit on Wednesday.

Mugabe, who has led the country since independence from Britain in 1980, is slated to pay a courtesy call on Megawati upon arrival, and spend the rest of his time here with private activities.

Africa is an important destination for Megawati's foreign diplomacy. Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Tuesday Indonesia was trying to boost its relations with African countries.

"It is not just because of the potential economic benefit, but also for potentially mutually beneficial relations," said Hassan.

The President's second guest, and apparently also her most important visitor, is new Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

It is a custom of Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) member countries that a new leader pays introductory visits to the other ASEAN members.

Badawi was appointed prime minister in October, following the resignation of internationally respected prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Agence France-Presse reported that Badawi would make his first official visit to Indonesia on Thursday. Badawi is scheduled to leave Jakarta on the same day after having lunch with the President.

This will be the second meeting of the two leaders. They met for the first time in Tokyo last month when they attended the ASEAN-Japan summit.

"We shall boost our bilateral cooperation," Badawi said after meeting Megawati in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia will begin a two-day visit to Jakarta on Jan. 23.

This will be the first visit of the prime minister to the country, in return for Megawati's visit to Bangladesh in June last year. Megawati has been the first Indonesian president to visit Bangladesh.

Both Megawati and Zia are leaders of Muslim predominantly countries.

In February, Megawati already has Romanian President Ion Iliescu and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski on her guest list.

President Iliescu is slated to begin a three-day visit on Feb. 2. President Kwasniewski is slated to be here, also for three days, beginning Feb. 20.

Megawati visited the two countries in April last year as part of her Eastern Europe tour, seeking cooperation in arm sales.

"We are also continuing to try to strengthen our bilateral ties with our traditional and potential partners," Hassan said about the government's policy on foreign affairs. The visit of the leaders is clearly part of that strategy.