Soeharto, Rabin meet in New York

Soeharto, Rabin meet in New York

By Rikza Abdullah

NEW YORK (JP): President Soeharto and Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin held a 30-minute meeting at the Waldorf Towers
Hotel here on Saturday evening to discuss the latest developments
in the Middle East.

"Prime Minister Rabin told President Soeharto about the latest
developments in the Middle East, particularly those related to
Palestine," Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono told Indonesian
reporters after the meeting.

Moerdiono refused to go into details of the discussion between
the two leaders, who are both here to attend the three-day
Special Commemorative Meeting of the General Assembly marking the
50th anniversary of the United Nations. The commemoration started
on Sunday.

Indonesia, which opposes the Israeli occupation of Palestine
and other Arab land, has no diplomatic relations with the Jewish
state.

"The meeting between the two heads of government was a follow-
up of their meeting in Jakarta two years ago," Moerdiono said.

Moerdiono said the meeting was based on a "rather sudden"
request by the Israeli prime minister.

When asked whether the two leaders discussed bilateral issues
between Indonesia and Israel, Moerdiono said: "That was my only
explanation for you today. I appreciate your way of looking for
information but that was it." Rabin was accompanied by three
officials at the meeting.

Rabin held a secret meeting with Soeharto, who was then
chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), in Jakarta in 1993.
The visit was announced to journalists several hours after the
Israeli prime minister had left Indonesia.

Soeharto handed over the NAM chairmanship to his successor
President Ernesto Samper Pizano of Columbia at the movement's
11th summit meeting in the Colombian city of Cartagena last week.

Arafat

President of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser
Arafat, told the summit that many complications had obstructed
the precise and faithful implementation of the Palestinian-
Israeli agreement, which was signed in Washington in 1993, before
a new agreement was signed, also in Washington, recently.

"The accord we signed a few days ago in Washington at
President Clinton's invitation is a second-stage agreement which
will be followed by other agreements to complete the peace
process on the basis of the land-for-peace formula and Security
Council Resolution 242 and 338," Arafat said.

"This will take shape in light of negotiations starting in May
1996 on final status issues that had been deferred, such as Al-
Quds al-Shareef, capital of our Palestinian state, the refugees
and the permanent borders."

As-Quds is known outside the Moslem world as Jerusalem.

"We also reiterate that just and comprehensive peace in the
region will not be achieved without tangible progress on the
Syrian and Lebanese tracks," Arafat added.

Soeharto, while attending the Cartagena summit, met with
Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam, who expressed the hope
that Indonesia supports its struggle to regain its rights from
Israel.

Soeharto was quoted by Moerdiono as saying that Indonesia
fully supports the struggle of the Palestinians and other Arabs
to regain their rights.

World Bank

Before receiving the Israeli prime minister, Soeharto also
held separate meetings with the president of the World Bank,
James D. Wolfensohn, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandanaraike Kumaratunga.

Moerdiono said Wolfensohn pledged that the World Bank, which
now chairs the Consultative Group for Indonesia (CGI), will
continue assisting Indonesia in financing its development
projects.

The World Bank, in the last CGI meeting in Paris in July, made
a commitment to provide a major part of the US$5.2 billion aid
promised by the group for Indonesia this fiscal year.

Wolfensohn told Soeharto that the World Bank will pay serious
attention to proposals on the reduction of the debt burdens of
the world's least-developed countries.

Soeharto has on several occasions called for a reduction in
the debt burdens of the world's poorest countries. He told the
Cartagena summit that bilateral and commercial debts of a number
of developing countries have already been reduced but that, up to
now, there has been no possibility of reduce multilateral debts
and that even rescheduling has not been possible.

Moerdiono said on Saturday that the Canadian prime minister
and the Sri Lankan president had proposed improvements in their
countries' economic and trade relations with Indonesia.

"Prime Minister Chretien will visit Indonesia in January,
leading a delegation of hundreds of business people," Moerdiono
said.

Indonesia's exports to Canada increased by 5.7 percent to
US$3321.69 million last year from $204.17 million in 1993, while
its imports from the country rose by 9.2 percent, from $496.77
million to $954.59 million.

Canada, as of the end of last year, is the 13th-largest
foreign investor in Indonesia, with total cumulative investments
of $1.07 billion for non-oil and non-financial projects.