SBY dons diplomatic and marketing hats in Chile

SBY dons diplomatic and marketing hats in Chile

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Santiago

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono raised the Palestinian
issue with U.S. President George W. Bush; explored ways of
improving defense ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and
of jointly fighting terrorism with Canadian Prime Minister Paul
Martin; and sought greater investment from Japan during his
meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. And he urged all
four to send investors to the infrastructure summit he plans to
hold in Jakarta in January.

On top of all that, he took part in an informal meeting, or
retreat, with the other 20 leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum, which held its summit here this
weekend. The former Army general also managed to find time to
gave a speech to APEC business leaders on the security challenges
facing the world economy.

And so passed the second day of the new President's
international debut here. Susilo the diplomat at times also
became Susilo the salesman.

By the time he leaves Santiago and heads home for Jakarta on
Sunday night (Monday morning in Jakarta), the Indonesian
president will have held individual meetings with nine leaders,
attended two rounds of APEC summits, and met with many business
leaders either individually or in groups.

Shortly after his arrival here on Friday following a 34-hour
flight, Susilo met with Trand Duc Luong of Vietnam, John Howard
of Australia, Ricardo Lagos of Chile, Helen Clark of New Zealand
and Hu Jintao of China.

Dino Pati Jalal, his chief spokesman, said that during the
meeting with Bush, Susilo had asked that he restart the Middle
East peace process with the objective of establishing a viable,
sovereign and independent state of Palestine.

In spite of the seriousness of the matters discussed, Dino
described the meeting as very cordial and very friendly,
interspersed with humor.

"There was good chemistry. This is a good sign (for future
relations between the two countries," pronounced Dino, who was
director for North and Central America at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs before joining Susilo's team last month.

The two leaders congratulated each other following their
recent election victories, and Susilo used the occasion to
discuss political reform and the future of democracy in
Indonesia.

Bush also assured Susilo that his administration would strive
to fully normalize military-to-military relations between the two
countries. An embargo on the sale of lethal weapons to Indonesia
remains in place at Congress's insistence until Indonesia shows
some measure of credible accountability for the mayhem in East
Timor, then still under Jakarta control, in 1999.

The embargo has forced Indonesia to turn to other sources,
including Russia. The issue of Indonesia's desire to purchase
more weapons was discussed by Susilo and Putin in Santiago.

Their discussion also touched on the insurgencies that both
were facing, Putin in Chechnya and Susilo in Aceh, according to
Dino.

Susilo and Prime Minister Martin discussed a new bilateral
program to jointly combat terrorism through the early detection
of "chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear weapons".

Martin also urged Susilo to reopen Indonesia's market to
Canadian beef, which has been banned because of the outbreak of
mad cow disease last year.

Koizumi pushed for a new economic partnership agreement to lay
down new foundations for economic relations between the two
countries.

The Japanese leader asked Indonesia to address the problem of
piracy in the Strait of Malacca, pointing to recurring attacks on
ships carrying vital goods bound for or coming from Japan.

One thing that is clear from the matters Susilo discussed with
all of these leaders is that his planned "infrastructure summit"
has become something of a personal obsession.

The President has said that the key to sustainable economic
development is the putting in place of the necessary
infrastructure, including roads, railways, ports and airports,
clean water and irrigation facilities, and power plants.

The total cost? $72 billion over the next five years.

To raise that kind of money, President Susilo will probably
need a lot more than his diplomatic and marketing hats.