Indonesia is looking to sign a comprehensive partnership with the United States during the visit of President Barack Obama here in the middle of the year, an official says.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Friday the partnership draft covered a wide range of issues, from education and social issue to politics and military cooperation, and would be finalized in the near future.
Obama's trip had been scheduled for November last year, but was postponed, with both US and Indonesian officials saying they would find the best time for Obama's visit that would "showcase the importance of growing US-Indonesian bilateral relations".
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and his US counterpart, Hillary Clinton, held a bilateral meeting Thursday in London on the sidelines of the second Afghan Conference.
"One of the issues on our agenda *during the bilateral meeting* was the discussion of the comprehensive partnership," Faizasyah said.
"The deliberation is almost complete ... We expect the visit of President Obama this year to serve as the moment for initiating the comprehensive partnership."
The partnership was first proposed by then foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda during Clinton's visit to Jakarta in February last year. Although the partnership has not yet been signed, a number of ventures, including the resumption of the Peace Corps mission to Indonesia, have been carried out under the partnership deal.
Indonesian Military spokesman Rear Marshal Sagom Tamboen said bilateral military cooperation between Indonesia and the United States could be stepped up under the partnership program.
"Indonesia has sent thousands of military officers to study in the United Stated, and we have also cooperated closely on counterterrorism efforts," he said Friday.
"We expect the partnership will facilitate more joint drills between our special counterterrorism forces and also encourage US military officers to study in Indonesia."
Washington restored military ties with Jakarta in 2005, ending a 14-year arms embargo imposed for alleged human rights abuses in Papua, Aceh and then East Timor.
The embargo was lifted and military ties with Jakarta were resumed at the height of the US-led war against terrorism.
Sagom said Indonesia did not have any plans yet to purchase weapons from the United States to renew its aging arsenal, citing budget constraints.
