Megawati to visit Europe next month

Megawati to visit Europe next month

Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will embark on a two-week trip
to Europe on June 8. The trip will be her second this year since
she took office last July.

The highlight of the trip would be the Food and Agriculture
Organization summit in Rome, Italy, which is a follow-up to the
first food summit held five years ago, Foreign Affairs Minister
Hassan Wirayuda said on Wednesday.

Indonesia, along with 192 other countries would reassess the
implementation of the first agreement on food and agriculture,
among other issues, he said.

"Indonesia considers food supply as one of the most strategic
aspect, therefore our support along with other countries in terms
of food supply becomes important."

Indonesia received US$60 million in aid recently from the
World Food Program to help tackle food shortages in various parts
of the country, he added.

Aside from heads of state, around 4,000 participants,
including representatives from international organizations, would
also attend the summit.

The summit was first scheduled to be held in November last
year but was postponed following the Sept. 11 attack.

After Megawati's trip to Rome, she is slated to visit London,
Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

"When planning her United States visit last September, the
president had talked about plans to visit countries such as the
Czech Republic and Slovakia, but we had to postpone it," Hassan
said.