Tokyo to help Jakarta to overcome crisis

Tokyo to help Jakarta to overcome crisis

TOKYO (Reuters): Japan's Trade Ministry would like to do what
it can for Indonesia after a forthcoming Japanese delegation to
the financially troubled Southeast Asian nation returns home,
Vice Trade Minister Osamu Watanabe said yesterday.

He said that although the situation in Southeast Asia appeared
to be stabilizing, Indonesia's corporate debt was one problem
that still needed to be dealt with.

"We want to take whatever action should be taken," Watanabe
told a news conference.

Japan has said it will send a delegation to Indonesia and
Singapore from Feb. 11 to discussion Indonesia's economic
situation.

The delegation will include senior officials from the Ministry
of Finance as well as representatives from the Ministry of
International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Foreign Ministry.

Officials have said decisions on additional Japanese economic
support for Indonesia will be made after the delegation returns
from its trip, which is expected to last up to 10 days.

Japan is Indonesia's largest creditor, with Japanese banks
accounting for 39 percent, or $23 billion, of Indonesia's $58.7
billion in foreign bank debt at the end of June 1997.

Meanwhile, a delegation from Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP) met Singapore officials on Monday to discuss Asia's
economic crisis, a Japanese embassy official said.

"This team is actually a survey team... their main concern is
the present situation, environment, economic condition in this
region," the official told Reuters.

The delegation was led by former foreign minister Taro
Nakayama and included officials from the foreign and finance
ministries.

The embassy official said former foreign affairs minister
Yukihiko Ikeda was also part of the delegation.

She said they met some Singapore officials, but gave no
further details. Singapore officials were not immediately
contactable for comment.

Japan's financial daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported last
week the one-week mission to Southeast Asia was to enable the LDP
to come up with a proposal to stabilize the region's crisis-
stricken economy,

The Japanese delegation was due leave for Thailand later on
Monday and was also scheduled to visit Indonesia and Hong Kong.