RI, Russia to enhance military cooperation
Agencies, Jakarta
Indonesia and Russia have agreed to strengthen bilateral ties, including cooperation in military, technology and trade.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Russian President Vladimir Putin witnessed on Monday the signing of several memorandums of understanding symbolizing the new cooperation of the two countries.
It was not immediately clear whether Megawati also closed a US$500 million deal to purchase two Sukhoi-27 and two Sukhoi-30 jet fighters from Russia, but she had expressed the intention to buy the jets.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Putin, Megawati said that she had asked for Russia's support in modernizing Indonesian Military (TNI) equipment.
"I asked for President Putin's support in finding measures to finance the cooperation, maybe through countertrades or joint ventures in military industries," Megawati was quoted by Antara as saying.
Putin said with the recently improved situation in Indonesia, including economic progress, there were grounds for expecting a successful development of Russian-Indonesian ties in various spheres.
"The situation in Indonesia, including the state of the economy, has improved recently -- this gives grounds for developing our relations in different areas," Putin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Megawati was on the second day of her five-day visit to Russia as part of a 10-day tour of Eastern European countries, including Romania and Poland.
The trip is part of efforts to look for other military hardware sources as Indonesia had been under a military embargo from its traditional arms supplier -- the United States -- since 1999.
Although there was no confirmation of whether Megawati had sealed the $500 million deal for the Sukhoi jet fighters, Russia TV reported on Monday that the contract for the purchase had already been signed.
During the press conference, Putin also pointed to the traditional relations between the two countries, especially during the tenure of founding president Sukarno, Megawati's father, in the 1950s.
"We are happy to welcome you in Russia as the President and the daughter of the great father (Sukarno) who is commemorated in this country. There is a record here of conferences dedicated to Sukarno and editions of books written by him," Putin said as reported by the Ria Novosti news agency.
He further praised Indonesia's consistency in maintaining world peace and accepted an invitation to visit the country as soon as possible.
The two countries also underlined the importance of a United Nations role in postwar Iraq and voiced a similar nonproliferation stance of weapons of mass destruction regarding the crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Both leaders also agreed to enhance cooperation in fighting terrorism, especially in the sharing of information.
Megawati held bilateral talks with Putin at the Kremlin Grand Palace, and later in the day she also met the Federation Council chairman Sergei M. Mironov.
The meeting between Megawati and Putin was the second, with the first taking place in 1990 when Megawati, then a legislator, visited St. Petersburg, where Putin was still the deputy mayor.
The two leaders also saw the signing of a memorandum of understanding on space technology cooperation. Russia had offered to provide a floating nuclear power plant and construct a rocket and satellite launching pad in Biak, Papua.
On Tuesday, Megawati is expected to receive an honorary doctorate degree from the Moscow Diplomatic Academy and visit the Sukhoi testing ground at the Zhukovsky air base near Moscow.
Megawati will continue her visit to Poland, the last leg of her Eastern Europe tour, on April 24 after visiting St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
An official traveling with Megawati told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the President was likely to extend the trip to attend an emergency summit on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 29.
The President will be accompanied to the meeting by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti and Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi.