Soeharto and Chirac to hold talks in Bangkok
Soeharto and Chirac to hold talks in Bangkok
JAKARTA (JP): French President Jacques Chirac will hold private talks with Indonesia's President Soeharto at next month's Asia-Europe Meeting in Bangkok.
Visiting French foreign minister Herve de Charette revealed the news yesterday afternoon.
"President Chirac and Soeharto will meet and hold talks at the Bangkok Summit," he said through his interpreter during the media briefing at the conclusion of his visit.
He would not reveal the intended topic of discussion but stressed that it was France's aim to enhance relations in the region by having public officials meet more often.
Charette returned to Paris after a three-day stop in Jakarta. Apart from Jakarta, he visited Beijing on his tour, which was his first to Asia since becoming foreign minister last year.
Prior to his departure Charette presided over a meeting of 10 French ambassadors in Asia to brief them on the upcoming summit.
The Asia-Europe Meeting will be held in the Thai capital on March 1-2 and attended by the 15 members of the European Union, the seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations along with China, Japan and South Korea.
Yesterday morning Charette paid a courtesy call on Soeharto, whom he said greeted him warmly. He also delivered a special message from the French president.
"To him I conveyed a verbal message from President Chirac who underlines that for France, the bilateral relationship (with Indonesia) is extremely crucial," he said.
"With Bapak President Soeharto and my counterpart Ali Alatas we exchanged views about the coming Bangkok Summit," Charette said, adding that France considers this to be a historical meeting.
After meeting with Charette on Monday, Alatas said France was of the same opinion that the Bangkok Summit must avoid "irrelevant issues", including the East Timor question.
Portugal, which will attend the summit, is pushing for the European side to bring up the issue of East Timor.
However, when Charette was queried yesterday, he neither confirmed nor denied France's support for Indonesia on excluding East Timor from the summit agenda.
He reasserted Paris' position, which supports the European Union's stance on East Timor.
The European Union maintains the need for an internationally acceptable solution to the East Timor issue and supports the on- going trilateral talks between Jakarta, Lisbon and the United Nations.
Charette also reoffered France's help in resolving the issue although he did not spell out the details. "We are often given the opportunity to help a friend with the trouble they are facing. We will help if they ask us to help," he said.
Speaking of the G-7 meeting of industrialized countries to be held in Lyon, France, later this month, Charette said his government would like to highlight the needs of developing countries in this meeting.
"France has taken an initiative prior to the G-7 meeting in Lyon, in which developmental aid must be discussed and become a priority there," he said. (mds)