Russia to expand arms sales in SE Asia
Russia to expand arms sales in SE Asia
By Dwi Atmanta
DENPASAR (JP): Russia is looking to expand its military
equipment market in Southeast Asia, the head of the Russian
parliamentary delegation to an international meeting, Sergey
Boshkolov, said here yesterday.
Speaking after his meeting with the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary
Organization (AIPO), Boshkolov said Russia would boost its
promotion of conventional weapons and other high-technology
products.
"It's good to see Russia play a bigger role in arm sales in
the region, and it looks that our prospects in other business
fields is becoming greater," Boshkolov said.
Boshkolov is deputy chairman of the Russian Parliament's
commission on security and defense.
He said trade between Russia and Southeast Asian countries had
increased five times in just two years from US$600 million in
1994 to $3 billion last year.
"We are now searching for a harmonious relationship in trade,
including how to drop the double taxation imposed on imported and
exported commodities," he said.
The Russian delegation is here to attend the 18th AIPO general
assembly which ends today. Russia is one of ASEAN's dialog
partners.
Other dialog meetings yesterday were held between AIPO and
South Korea, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
On Wednesday AIPO met with Australia, China, Cambodia, the
European Parliament and Japan.
Boshkolov said the Russian parliament hailed Indonesia's
decision to buy Sukhoi Su-30M and "fully understands the terms of
payment proposed by Indonesia".
"There are no substantial problems in our negotiations now
underway except some technical matters," he said.
He said Indonesia would pay 20 percent of the Sukhoi purchase
from its foreign exchange earnings, while the rest would be
covered by the barter of industrial goods and commodities.
An Su-30Ms costs $34 million, $4 million more than the
American-made F-16s offered to Indonesia last year.
Indonesia dropped its plan to buy 12 F-16s after the United
States Congress began linking the sale to human rights issues.
If the Sukhoi deal is struck, Indonesia will join Vietnam and
Malaysia as Southeast Asian countries which operate Russian
combat planes.
Boshkolov said the sale of Su-30M had been anticipated long
before Indonesia canceled its plan to buy the F-16 fleet.
He said Russia was planning to hold more exhibitions of its
nonmilitary industrial products after the Sukhoi deal was
finalized.
Russia took part in the 1986 and 1996 Indonesian Air Shows in
Jakarta.
The general assembly yesterday also finished formulating its
joint communique to be announced at today's closing ceremony.
Marsetio Donosumarto, who chaired the commission to formulate
the joint communique, said AIPO had agreed on a resolution to
strengthen regional monetary and financial resilience in response
to the currency crisis that has hit Southeast Asia.
He said Indonesian delegates were referring to President
Soeharto's Aug. 16 state-of-the-nation speech when they proposed
the resolution.
"In fact, all AIPO delegates shared the same idea as ours,
because they are suffering from the monetary turmoil," Marsetio
said.
The Philippines earlier proposed a resolution which promoted
regulatory and supervisory cooperation among ASEAN countries
through the establishment of a hot-line linking financial markets
to consultation and information exchanges.
Another resolution says that AIPO agrees to the Philippines'
proposal to set up an antinarcotics task force based in Manila.
Marsetio said the assembly endorsed the unprecedented proposal
after the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Singapore
supported the draft.