Soeharto and entourage head for Turkey summit

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto and his entourage leave today for Istanbul to attend the first summit of eight predominantly Islamic developing countries, known as the D-8.

The entourage includes Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, ambassador-at-large Nana Sutresna and senior economist Widjojo Nitisastro. The President's second daughter, Siti Hediyati Prabowo, is also expected to accompany him.

The summit will go ahead despite the crisis affecting the coalition government of Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan after its prolonged tension with the military.

"We have been assured that the coalition government will not fall, at least during the summit," a senior State Palace official said Wednesday.

The summit, to be chaired by Turkish President Sulayman Demirel, will take place at Ciragam Palace.

The D-8 groups Indonesia and Malaysia representing East Asia; Bangladesh and Pakistan representing South Asia; Turkey and Iran representing the Middle East; and Egypt and Nigeria representing Africa.

Necmettin Erbakan proposed the summit in a meeting with Soeharto in Jakarta, last August.

D-8 membership is open to countries with more than 40 million people. Malaysia is an exception because it is regarded as a prominent developing country.

Moerdiono said last week: "The president will emphasize the importance of poverty alleviation programs because poverty is the most fundamental problem facing developing countries."

At the summit, Soeharto is expected to propose the establishment of fertilizer plants, production of cheap housing materials and other projects.

In his speech at the World Food Summit last November in Rome, Soeharto proposed joint efforts to build fertilizer plants, which use natural gas that is being burned into waste at many gas fields.

He said cheap fertilizer would help farmers in poor countries boost rice production.

After signing the summit declaration, Soeharto and the other delegation heads will hold a joint press conference.

"The president will arrive back in Jakarta on June 16," Moerdiono said. (06)