Megawati ends visit to Algeria

Megawati ends visit to Algeria

Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri left Algiers on
Sunday at the end of a four-day visit during which a bilateral
oil deal was clinched, officials said.

Megawati's Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika saw her
off at the airport after the pair met for a third time earlier
Sunday.

Her visit, the first by an Indonesian head of state to the
north African country, saw the signing of a partnership agreement
between the two countries' state oil firms, Sonatrach and
Pertamina, to be followed soon by a one-year renewable contract
under which Algeria will sell 900,000 barrels of oil per month to
Indonesia.

Indonesia has up to now bought Algerian oil on the
international market.

The two countries' foreign ministers also signed a cooperation
agreement, and, at a dinner Thursday in Megawati's honor,
Bouteflika urged closer cooperation against terrorism.

"The intensification of the fight against terrorism ... must
not open the door to adventurism nor create an amalgam between
the crimes of terrorist groups and Islam, a religion of peace,
equality, tolerance and respect for human dignity," he said.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population. -- AFP