Soeharto to attend Islamic nations summit

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is to attend the first summit of eight predominantly Islamic developing countries, known as the D-8, in Turkey on June 15, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono announced yesterday.

The president will leave for Istanbul on June 13 and return home June 16. He will be accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, Moerdiono, senior economist Widjojo Nitisastro, and ambassador-at-large Nana Sutresna.

The D-8 groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria and Turkey. It was proposed by Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan during a meeting with Soeharto in Jakarta, last August.

"The conference aims to promote social and economic cooperation among the member countries," Moerdiono said after meeting with Soeharto at the Bina Graha presidential office.

"The president will emphasize the importance of poverty alleviation programs because poverty is the most basic problem facing developing countries," Moerdiono said.

Soeharto will also propose the need for closer cooperation in the technology sector among the members.

"Even though our technology is not as sophisticated as that in industrialized countries, closer cooperation is needed to strengthen our position," Moerdiono quoted Soeharto as saying.

Erbakan initially proposed that the D-8 should group only Islamic countries or predominantly-Moslem countries.

"But later the eight foreign ministers decided that membership should not be based on religion but on the size of population," said Nana, who accompanied Moerdiono at the meeting.

Membership is open to countries with populations of more than 40 million. "Malaysia (which has a population of about 24 million) is an exception; it is regarded as a prominent developing country," he said.

The one-day summit is to be preceded by a senior officials meeting and a foreign ministers meeting.

Attending the summit is the only purpose of Soeharto's trip, Moerdiono said. (06)