Megawati in Rome for FAO summit

Megawati in Rome for FAO summit

Imanuddin, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri arrived in the Italian
capital of Rome on Sunday morning (Sunday afternoon in Jakarta)
on the first leg of her two-week European visit, a report said.

The President and her entourage were welcomed at the Ciampino
military airbase by the Indonesian Ambassador to Italy, Freddy
Numberi, Antara news agency reported.

Megawati is slated to address a seven-minute speech at the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) summit, which will begin
on Monday through next Thursday. She will be the third speaker in
the opening session of the summit.

Minister of Agriculture Bungaran Saragih, who is among the
President's entourage, told reporters that Indonesia would
express its support for a global attempt to reduce hunger and
poverty.

Unlike the 1986 summit when Indonesia was praised for its
self-sufficiency in rice, Megawati this time around will
represent a country which is facing a food shortage.

The World Food Summit at FAO's Rome headquarters follows up a
world food conference held in 1996, which was aimed at restoring
political will to reduce the number of hungry people around the
world to 400 million by 2005.

Those attending the Rome summit will include dozens of heads
of states, mostly from developing countries, who expect to
negotiate a new proposal for an extra US$24 billion of annual
public investment from current national agriculture and rural
development programs to combat famine.

The program will combine investment in farming and rural
development aimed at strengthening the poor's food purchasing
power as it focuses on small farmers and seeks to create more
opportunities for rural people.

The summit was initially scheduled for last year, but
postponed due to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United
States.

Indonesia recently received $60 million in aid from the World
Food Program (WFP) to help tackle food shortages in various parts
of the country.

During her Italian trip, Megawati is also scheduled to meet
Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.

The President will then fly to London to meet British Prime
Minister Tony Blair, and witness the signing of several
Memorandum of Understandings on cultural cooperation, recruitment
and the employment of health care professionals by Minister of
Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda.

From June 17 to June 19, Megawati will be in the Czech
Republic to meet Prime Minister Milos Zeman, President Vaclav
Havel, head of the senate Petr Pithart and Prague mayor Jan Kasl.

Slovakia will be her last leg on the trip, where she will hold
talks with President Rudolf Schuster and Prime Minister Mikulas
Dzurinda before flying back home on June 21.