Megawati continues with arms shopping in Poland
Megawati continues with arms shopping in Poland
Agencies, Jakarta
Poland on Thursday offered visiting Indonesian President
Megawati Soekarnoputri extensive cooperation in the military
field.
"We are proposing (Indonesia) a vast cooperation in the
military and arms domain," President Aleksander Kwasniewski told
a joint conference with Megawati at the outset of her 48-hour
visit.
On Friday, on the second day of her visit, Megawati is
scheduled to attend a presentation of military equipment in
Warsaw, including Polish communications systems, tanks, radars,
planes and helicopters, AFP reported.
Poland's beleaguered arms industry recently won a lucrative
contract with Indonesia's neighbor Malaysia for the sale of 48
PT-91M tanks and 14 army vehicles for US$370 million.
At Thursday's meeting the two countries signed several
cooperation accords in the areas of education, science and
tourism. Megawati said talks broached a wide range of issues.
"We discussed political, economic, trade, military and tourism
cooperation," she told the news conference.
Megawati arrived in Warsaw after a five-day visit to Russia
where she signed an accord with President Vladimir Putin
strengthening ties, notably in the military domain.
Trade between Poland and the southeast Asian nation has been
modest so far, reaching US$240 million (219 million euros) last
year and with Poland having a weighty $208 million deficit.
Megawati is also scheduled to meet with speakers of both
houses of parliament prior to her departure to Bangkok on
Saturday.
Subject to a U.S. military sales embargo since 1999 due to
human rights violations in East Timor, Indonesia is seeking
competitively priced arms and other military hardware.
On the eve of her departure from Moscow, Megawati sealed a
$197 million deal with Russia for four Sukhoi jet fighters and
two helicopters.
A source told The Jakarta Post that Russia had been sitting on
the planes since 1997, when Indonesia canceled a purchase deal
due to the Asian economic crisis.
"The Sukhois could be delivered in September because they
already have the jets, which were manufactured in 1995 when the
two countries reached the deal," the source said.
Analysts hailed the decision to purchase the jets from Russia,
saying that Indonesia should diversify its military sources and
prevent excessive dependence on one country.