RI, Suriname sign accords on cooperation
By Rikza Abdullah
PARAMARIBO (JP): Indonesia and Suriname signed three agreements here on Saturday to promote cooperation in investment, tourism and telecommunications.
The agreement on the protection and promotion of investment and the memorandums of understanding on tourism and telecommunications were signed by Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas and his Suriname's Foreign Minister Subhas Chandra Mungra after a meeting between President Soeharto and Suriname President Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan.
Alatas told reporters that the investment agreement is necessary to assure that Indonesian capital in Suriname and Suriname investment in Indonesia will be secure.
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said President Soeharto offered to share Indonesia's experience in development programs with Suriname, to enable it to benefit from Indonesia's successes and to help Suriname avoid failure.
For example, Indonesia could send officials here to provide consulting services to the Suriname government in its efforts to get external loans and to explain how to manage the credit properly, he said.
Soeharto and Venetiaan agreed that the Indonesian and Suriname governments should encourage their businesspeople to exchange visits and establish investment cooperation.
"Indonesian investors operating in Suriname must obey local regulations and the Suriname government should not hesitate to reprimand and impose sanctions against Indonesian firms violating the rules here," Soeharto said.
Musa Group of Indonesia has been operating a forestry concession in Suriname.
In the afternoon, President Soeharto and First Lady Tien visited a cultural center, which has the Javanese language name of Sana Budaya. The center was established with financial assistance from Indonesia.
Soeharto also held a meeting with 150 Suriname leaders of Javanese origin.
The President delivered his speech and spoke with the Suriname people present in the Javanese language. He briefed them about economic and political development in Indonesia.
Suriname has a population of about 425,000 people, 37 percent of whom are Indo-Pakistanis, 31.1 percent Suriname Creole, 14.2 percent Javanese, 8.5 percent Bush Negro, 3.1 percent Amerindian, 2.8 percent Chinese, 1.4 percent Dutch and 1.7 percent of other descent.
In the evening, Soeharto attended a meeting with 1,000 Surinamese of Javanese descent at a sports hall and made another speech in Javanese. Javanese dances highlighted the ceremony.
The Javanese immigrants were brought into this country early this century by the Dutch, who colonized both Indonesia and Suriname.
President Soeharto ended his three-day stay visit here yesterday morning and left for Saudi Arabia, where he, together with First Lady Tien, will perform the umrah minor pilgrimage.
The minor haj will mark the conclusion of his two-week tour which took him to Columbia, where he attended the 11th summit meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, to New York for the United Nations special commemorative meeting for its 50th anniversary, and to Washington where he had bilateral talk with U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Moerdiono said that Soeharto's children and grandchildren will join him in the Holy Land for the pilgrimage.
The minister said the head of state intends to express his gratitude to God Almighty for Indonesia's independence, the 50th anniversary of which was commemorated in August, during the pilgrimage.
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