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SBY in Thailand, reinforcing regional ties
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left Jakarta on Friday for a three-day visit to the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin for the 14th ASEAN Summit and three other regional and bilateral meetings
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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left Jakarta on Friday for a three-day visit to the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin for the 14th ASEAN Summit and three other regional and bilateral meetings.
Accompanying him are acting Coordinating Minister for the Economy Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie and State Secretary Hatta Radjasa.
M.S. Hidayat, chairman of the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and M. Luthfi, chairman of the Capital Investment Coordinating Board, are also among the President's entourage.
Yudhoyono's hectic schedule will kick off with a preparation meeting with the Indonesian delegation to the ASEAN Summit, shortly after arriving at Hua Hin on Friday evening, the Presidential Palace said.
On Saturday, Yudhoyono will chair the fourth meeting of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle, a cooperation program launched in 1993 aimed at accelerating the subregion's economic transformation through measures like promoting tourism and lowering transportation and transaction costs.
Yudhoyono will then chair the fifth meeting of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), dubbed a major location in ASEAN of high value-added agribusiness, natural resource-based manufacturing and high-grade tourism, as well as non-resource-based industries.
The BIMP-EAGA initiative was launched in 1994, aimed at hastening the development of the economy of Brunei and subregions of the three other countries through regional cooperation.
Yudhoyono will then attend informal talks with the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, ASEAN Youth, and the ASEAN Civil Society, and have lunch with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council.
He will then attend the official opening ceremony of the 14th ASEAN Summit, after which he will pay a courtesy call on the King of Thailand along with leaders of other ASEAN member states.
At the ASEAN Summit retreat scheduled for Sunday, Yudhoyono and leaders of the other nine ASEAN member states will exchange views and give directions on the implementation of the ASEAN Charter, which came into force last December.
The leaders will also discuss regional and global issues, including food and energy security, the global financial crisis, and disaster management.
They are expected to agree on and adopt five documents: the ASEAN Political Security Blueprint, the ASEAN Sociocultural Community Blueprint, the 2nd Initiative for ASEAN Integration Work Plan, the ASEAN Declaration on the Attainment of Millennium Development Goals in ASEAN, and the ASEAN Statement on Food Security in the ASEAN Region.
After the retreat, the leaders will sign one major document: the Declaration on the Road Map for an ASEAN Community 2009-2015.
Yudhoyono will also hold bilateral talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the sidelines of the summit.
He will return to Indonesia on Sunday.
The leaders will also discuss regional and global issues, including food and energy security, the global financial crisis, and disaster management.
