U.S. deputy secretary of state to visit Indonesia

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick will arrive in Indonesia this weekend to bolster Washington's relationship with Jakarta, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta announced on Tuesday.

The visit to Indonesia is a part of Zoellick's May 2 to May 11 Southeast Asian trip that includes Thailand, Malaysia Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines.

Though Zoellick's exact arrival and departure dates for Jakarta are not available, the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia confirmed the trip.

"The U.S. State Department has already announced the visit of Zoellick. He will be coming to Jakarta this week," U.S. Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe told The Jakarta Post recently.

Zoellick, the former U.S. trade representative, will be the first high-ranking U.S. official to visit Indonesia since U.S. President George Bush's second-term began early this year.

Zoellick is also planning to visit Banda Aceh to review the relief efforts of the U.S. in the tsunami-affected areas.

The trip is seen as an effort by the Bush administration to forge a strong relationship with the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Zoellick is expected to seek the perspective of Indonesia on a variety of economic, political and security issues and to discuss a prospective security partnership.

After the Dec. 26 tsunami, the U.S. seized the opportunity by providing massive relief assistance to tsunami victims. This has boosted the U.S.' image, which had sunk to a record low after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, in Indonesia.

The U.S. government, corporations and the public donated more than US$1 billion to tsunami victims in Indonesia and other Asian countries.

People-to-people contact also saw a significant change after an unprecedented response from ordinary Americans to the tsunami.

"During my recent visit to the U.S., I found that one-third of U.S. households donated to tsunami victims in Indonesia. It has never happened before. This shows American people care about Indonesia," Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said at a seminar last week in Jakarta.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will be visiting the U.S. later this month to boost both bilateral relations.