President Megawati arrives in Rome
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.