Sweden respects Indonesia's territorial integrity: Diplomat

Sweden respects Indonesia's territorial integrity: Diplomat

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Sweden, where several leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are
domiciled and have become Swedish citizens, supports the
territorial integrity of Indonesia, a senior Swedish official
said in Jakarta.

"Sweden fully respects the territorial integrity of Indonesia.
There has been no doubt about that," Olof Skoog, director general
for political affairs at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
told The Jakarta Post in an exclusive interview in Jakarta on
Wednesday.

In the past Indonesia was not happy with the activities of the
GAM leaders based in Sweden.

Skoog, one of the Sweden's top diplomats, arrived in Jakarta
on Tuesday on a three-day visit to Indonesia to foster relations
between Sweden and Indonesia and expand cooperation in various
sectors. He will visit Aceh on Thursday and meet Vice President
Jusuf Kalla and other senior officials on Friday in Jakarta.

GAM leader Hasan di Tiro, who has Swedish citizenship, has
been living in Sweden since 1979.

"It's true several GAM members are living in Sweden. Some of
them have Swedish citizenship. As long as they act under Swedish
laws, we don't have a problem with them," Skoog, a law graduate,
said while adding that Sweden is a staunch supporter of the peace
process in Aceh.

"Sweden has promoted a constructive way forward. We encouraged
GAM to participate in the negotiations and we always wanted GAM
members to resist forcible independence and engage in the peace
process. We are very pleased with the outcome of the negotiations
(in Helsinki)," Skoog, an experienced career diplomat who has
worked in Cuba, Austria, New York and Colombia, said.

Sweden, according to Skoog, is engaged in the peace monitoring
mission in Aceh.

"We are very supportive, not just in rhetoric but very much in
concrete terms by putting 13 observers on the ground. We are
providing logistical support to the operations of the peace
mission. Over all, we are providing US$5 million and 25 personnel
-- both observers and logistical staff," the 43-year-old diplomat
said.

Commenting on relations between the two countries, Skoog said
the relations between the two countries were "quite good". Sweden
also considers Indonesia an extremely important player in world
affairs. Indonesia is the second biggest trading partner of
Sweden after Singapore in Southeast Asia.

For its part, Sweden stepped up cooperation with Indonesia by
providing humanitarian assistance after the tsunami.

"Sweden was one of the countries that acted the quickest in
provided humanitarian assistance to tsunami victims," Skoog said.

Sweden's assistance to tsunami victims in Aceh has now reached
$33 million, Sweden's ambassador to Indonesia Lennart Linner
said. Out of this, $10 million has been given to the World Bank's
Multi Donor Trust Fund.

"We have also increased cooperation with Indonesia at the
antiterrorism center in Semarang, Central Java. We see our trade
is going up tremendously and there is a big interest among
Swedish companies," Skoog said.

Indonesia's exports to Sweden surged to $146 million in 2004
from $110 million in 2003 while imports from Sweden also jumped
to $352 million in 2004 from $191.39 million in 2003.

During his meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Arizal
Effendi, Skoog raised the issue of obtaining the visa-on-arrival
facility for Swedish nationals.

Every year around 10,000 Swedish tourists visit Indonesia.

Sweden and Indonesia are also cooperating in the international
arena.

"Both countries are trying to depolarize world politics. I
think we have common views regarding the threat of the spread of
weapons of mass destruction and UN reforms," Skoog said.

Sweden, Skoog said, had a big plan to double its cooperation
with Indonesia in the next five years.

"We are going to provide $100 million to Indonesia to double
our cooperation in the next five years," he said.