President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made several speeches and press statements where he took the opportunity to boast of his successes -- including his reduction of the poverty rate -- during his recent 13-day overseas trip which ended Tuesday night, to Washington and Peru, where he attended the G-20 Summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, respectively. It seems the President was confident enough -- rightly or wrongly -- to think that his meetings with leaders of other major countries would be very meaningful in dealing with the country's coming economic recession.

The President's trips should be fruitful not just in terms of public diplomacy and his own personal satisfaction, but also in more concrete economic terms for the country. It is not our intention to conclude that the President's costly visit was just a waste of money and time.

And it is just as natural that the President and his economic ministers, including Trade Minister Mari E. Pangestu, would be satisfied with the APEC summit and his bilateral meetings with other world leaders -- despite Indonesian public skepticism. It all looks good and even perfect -- at least on paper.

We Indonesians actually also deserve to have pride in APEC because for 14 years, up to and including Saturday and Sunday's summit in Lima, Peru, the leaders of the 21-member trade grouping have reiterated what they committed to in 1994 when APEC's second summit was held in Bogor, West Java. With Soeharto as the host, the leaders pledged to transform the Asia-Pacific region into a free and open trade and investment area not later than 2010 for industrialized countries and 2020 for developing nations.

We can also be proud that outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush invited our President to attend the summit of the world's top 20 economies (G-20) in Washington. We are indeed on the global economic map!

But still -- for millions of Indonesians -- his most pleasant remarks have nothing to do with his superfluous economic proposals or vows of help from other nations, but with a simple message from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. But why did such a message come from Obama and not from the (incumbent) President himself?

"I miss nasi goreng (fried rice), bakso (meatball soup) and rambutan," Obama told Yudhoyono during their five-minute telephone conversation when the latter transited in Seattle on his way home from Peru.

We Indonesians can feel proud that Obama, who will become the most powerful man on the planet on Jan. 20 of next year, still has good memories -- and his bahasa Indonesia -- of our country where from 1967 to 1971 he spent his childhood in Jakarta.

But many of us, including our leaders, perhaps naively think that Obama will give special treatment (to Indonesia) just because of his childhood experience here. But we are not alone because many people in other parts of the world -- especially Africa -- share our numerous expectations.

But apart from Obama's nostalgic sentiment about Indonesian food, what did the President really bring back with him from his expensive 13-day trip, which also took him to Mexico and Brazil? The G-20 summit may have positive impacts because many Indonesians rarely realize that their country is not as bad as they often perceive. But what else can we expect from the G-20 and APEC summits?

This newspaper described the G-20 members -- including the United States, the EU, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia -- as representing 85 percent of the world's GDP and two-thirds of the global population. APEC's size is also quite mammoth.

Indonesia is a member of the two wealthy clubs. It is a privilege. But is our presence there more as one of the cheerleaders or as one of the key players?

APEC from the very beginning has been a loose and a voluntary-based organization and in the face of a global economic crisis, APEC members will be much more protective and will put aside their ambitious plans to make their region a completely free-trade area. But for Indonesia, APEC's annual summit and other meetings at least function as an opportunity to conduct multilateral dialogues and meet with other countries' leaders.

Obama's expression that he misses Indonesia is complimentary for us. His past experience with Indonesia can be used as an advantage to promote our country as a tourist destination for U.S. citizens. But we hope that he does not just miss Indonesia's exotic food, but also its other positive aspects.

President Yudhoyono has returned home. It is naive to expect that his overseas trip will bring immediate economic effects, because a global recession will make it much more difficult for Indonesia to lure foreign investors and to rid itself of a recession's severe impacts.

The President does not need to repeat the outcome of his visit. We all know.

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