Turkmenistan's wish to joined NAM hailed

Turkmenistan's wish to joined NAM hailed

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's President Soeharto has expressed his
full support, as chair of the 111-nation Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM), for Turkmenistan's wish to join the movement.

As reported by Antara from the Turkmenistan capital city of
Ashgabat, Soeharto gave the endorsement during a meeting with
Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov yesterday.

"We're just waiting for the procedures to be completed," said
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas.

Following the meeting, Soeharto and Niyazov signed an economic
cooperation declaration which will function as an umbrella
agreement for future cooperation between the two countries.

President Soeharto ended yesterday his 13-day tour of four
countries which took him to Germany, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan. He is scheduled to arrive back here this morning at
Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, East Jakarta.

Soeharto's visit to the three Central Asian republics
proceeded smoothly, in sharp contrast to his stay in Germany,
where he was met by a number of demonstrations.

During an earlier meeting between the two presidents on
Tuesday, Niyazov said that his country's foreign policy was
neutral but positive, according to Minister/State Secretary
Moerdiono

"President Soeharto straight away expressed his support for
such a foreign policy," Moerdiono said.

He added that such a stance was akin to the message contained
in the Indonesian Constitution: to promote world order based on
peace and social justice.

The two presidents also decided to explore alternative
transportation routes between their two countries.

"We are quite far from Turkmenistan so we have to find other
routes through third parties to ensure a smooth line of
transport, especially to support trade between the two
countries," Moerdiono said.

He said that the first step was for the private sector in each
country to familiarize their counterpart with the kind of
products they would be able to trade through Iran, Pakistan or
China.

Turkmenistan has already offered Indonesian businesses the
opportunity to cultivate land for cotton cultivation and has
provided assurances that the final products could be sold there
or in Indonesia. (mds)