Megawati to attend D-8 Summit in Iran

Megawati to attend D-8 Summit in Iran

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will head for Iran on Tuesday
morning to attend the D-8 Summit and hold talks with the
country's leaders.

The President, along with an entourage including several
ministers, would fly from Halim Perdanakusumah Airport in East
Jakarta, her office said.

"Besides attending the summit, the President will hold
bilateral talks with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami during
her visit," it said.

The President was scheduled to hold separate talks with
Khatami during the summit and would meet Iran's supreme leader
Ayatollah Said Ali Khameini at the end of the meeting.

The summit's main agenda was to discuss cooperation among
member countries, especially in trade and economic affairs. The
grouping, still relatively new, was developing concrete measures
to give it more meaning, Megawati's office said.

The D-8 is a forum for eight developing countries --
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey
and Egypt -- and was established in the mid-1990s.

Also traveling to Iran, Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan
Wirayuda said the D-8 summit was originally to be held in
Jakarta. The government had asked Iran to host the event because
of the approaching general elections.

"We have a moral obligation to attend the summit and have to
express our gratitude to Iran for accepting the chairmanship,"
Hassan said.

During the visit, Megawati would meet with the Indonesian
community in Iran, including volunteer doctors and soldiers, who
were providing medical aid and assistance to Iranians affected by
the recent earthquake.

Also in the presidential entourage is Minister for Trade and
Industry Rini Suwandi and State Secretary Bambang Kesowo.

Megawati will return to Jakarta on Feb. 20, to greet Polish
President Aleksander Kwasniewski on his arrival here.

The next summit she will attend is the G-15 Summit in
Venezuela on Feb. 27 -- her last overseas trip before election
campaigning starts on March 11.