U.S. to send treasury officials

JAKARTA (JP): The U.S. government will send several senior officials from its treasury department to assist the economic team of the new Cabinet in handling the economic crisis.

"The new Indonesian economic team has accepted our offer of assistance, so the officials will be here in the next two weeks," the new U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Robert S.Gelbard, said at a news conference on Thursday.

Gelbard did not specify the kinds of assistance to be provided by the officials, but he said they would help the new ministers handle the crisis and improve relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

They would also assist the ministers in attracting an inflow of capital into the country, he said.

He noted that the new government urgently needed an inflow of capital to lift the country from the protracted economic crisis.

Gelbard said he already met some new Indonesian ministers, including the economic minister, after arriving here three and a half weeks ago.

"Kwik Kian Gie and Laksamana Sukardi are excellent choices and so is Bambang Sudibyo, although I have not met him yet," he said.

Commenting on President Abdurrahman Wahid's plan to improve bilateral relations with China, the ambassador said he was not opposed to the idea and that it would no pose threat to U.S. bilateral relations with Indonesia.

"Indonesia needs all kinds of investors from all countries and the largest American company here has promised to increase their investment in the country," Gelbard said. (04)