Yeltsin to visit Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): Russian President Boris Yeltsin will visit Jakarta in April, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas confirmed yesterday.

"It is true and it has been planned for a long time," Alatas was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

Yeltsin's press secretary, Sergei Yastrzhembbsky, recently told Itar-Tass news agency that Yeltsin would visit Indonesia from April 14 to April 17 after concluding a visit to Japan on April 13.

Sergei said Yeltsin's visit would be the first by a Russia's president since Nikita Khruschev in 1960 when the country was part of the Soviet Union.

The Russian news agency said Yeltsin's visit would be preceded by visits by Russian Economic Minister Yakov Urinson and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mikhail Fradkov.

President Soeharto and Yeltsin, in what would be the first meeting between the two leaders, would likely focus their discussions on economic and trade affairs.

Indonesia decided in September to purchase 12 Sukhoi jet fighters and eight helicopters from Russia through a counter- purchase agreement worth US$500 million.

The economic crisis, however, has forced the government to delay the lucrative deal. (prb)