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.