Susilo to soon visit Beijing, Bangkok
Susilo to soon visit Beijing, Bangkok
Agencies, Jakarta/Bangkok
Indonesia's president will visit Beijing next week for his second meeting with the Chinese leader in three months, underlining the warming economic and political ties between the two giant Asian nations.
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to leave for China next Wednesday for a three-day trip, during which he will visit Beijing and the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the presidential palace in Jakarta said.
President will also visit Brunei Darussalam and Thailand.
Guangzhou is the center of China's manufacturing industry. It is an important investment destination for Indonesian businesses and a big buyer of the country's plentiful raw materials.
Susilo was scheduled to "discuss economic issues as well as regional ones," with Chinese President Hu Jintao, said presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng.
In April, Hu Jintao made a two-day state visit to Indonesia, and signed agreements to boost bilateral trade by more than 50 percent over the next three years to US$20 billion.
The figure marks an increase of $7 billion in annual trade between the two countries, up 54 percent from the current US$13 billion.
Indonesia wants to sell energy-hungry China more of its oil and natural gas, and hopes to attract more Chinese investment in its economy, which is currently growing at around 6 percent a year.
Political ties between Indonesia and China have improved significantly since the downfall of right-wing dictator Soeharto, who cut ties with communist China between 1965 and the 1980s. About 2 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are ethnic Chinese, many of whom maintain close links with the mainland.
Meanwhile in Bangkok, Thai foreign minister said on Wednesday that Bangkok will discuss curbing piracy in the Malacca Strait when Indonesia's president makes his first official visit to the kingdom later this month.
"We will emphasize coordinating information about piracy in (the) Strait of Malacca, which has doubled over the past year, in order to resolve this security problem," Kantathi Suphamongkhon told reporters when announcing Susilo's three-day visit from July 18.
Other topics on the agenda are sharing information about terrorism, extended concessions by Jakarta for Thai fishermen, agriculture and the joint launch of a tourism campaign targeting Europeans and Americans, Kantathi said.
Thailand will consult Indonesia about areas where Thailand plans to carry out joint naval patrols to ensure safe passage for vessels, an idea Kantathi raised when he met the president in Jakarta in May.
"It's possible that we will have joint troop patrols, but they must be executed as early as possible," Kantathi said.
Thailand and Indonesia will also update each other about early warning systems for tsunamis, after the Dec. 26 earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered waves that devastated the region.