As he was about to depart to Singapore on Monday, the President blamed inadequate mechanisms in place to evaluate the agreements for their poor implementation.

“We’ve signed many agreements, but it turns out that while some of them are well implemented, others aren’t. Thus we’ve agreed to build a mechanism that will ensure all bilateral cooperations agreed either in economic or non-economic fields are well implemented.

“We want constant evaluation of and reviews on bilateral cooperation agreements between Indonesia and Singapore and Indonesia and Malaysia,” the President said at a press conference at Halim Perdana Kusumah airport in Jakarta.

He said he would hold annual consultative meetings with each country to enhance bilateral ties.

“The consultative meetings will be in the form of retreats. We will focus on substantial and concrete issues to ensure [the partnerships] are headed in the right direction,” Yudhoyono said.

He said the focus of the bilateral talks would discuss economic partnerships, migrant workers and transnational crime.

President Yudhoyono was scheduled to meet with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore on Monday.

The armed forces of Singapore and Indonesia regularly hold joint exercises and run exchange programs for military officials.

They also cooperate closely to combat terrorism by sharing intelligence and operate joint patrols in the Malacca Strait.

Indonesia will assume the Chair of ASEAN next year and not Brunei Darussalam - as previously decided - after Vietnam’s term is over.

That is because in 2013, when Indonesia had been scheduled to assume the chair, Indonesia will instead host APEC.

On Tuesday, Yudhoyono will depart to Malaysia to meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak.

“The President will on the same day [Tuesday] receive formal visit from the chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum [WIEF], Tun Musa Hitam. On May 19, President Yudhoyono will attend and address a speech at the 6th WIEF in Kuala Lumpur Convention Center,” presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said last week. The President and his entourage will return to Jakarta Wednesday.

Indonesia’s relations with Malaysia have been marred by many unresolved contentious issues.

Perhaps the most controversial of those center on the rights of the millions of Indonesian workers in Malaysia, setting a minimum wage for Indonesian maids in Malaysia, and demarcation and territorial disputes.

There has been a moratorium on sending maids to Malaysia in place since last June, following a spate of abuse reports.

Several meetings involving the Home Ministry and Indonesia’s Manpower and Transmigration Ministry have discussed the issue.

Officials from both countries held a long meeting last Friday, but the outcome will not be announced until Yudhoyono has discussed the matter with Malaysia.

Indonesia has reportedly asked for Malaysia to set a minimum monthly wage of 800 ringgit (Rp 2.26 million) for Indonesians employed as maids in Malaysia.

However, Malaysian officials have argued that since Indonesian employers pay their maids on average the equivalent of about 200 ringgit per month, Malaysians should not be obliged to pay more.

Another outstanding issue is a request by Malaysia for Malaysian students in Indonesia to be eligible for one-year visas rather than extendable two-month visas. This matter is being considered by Jakarta.

On his trip to both countries, the President will be accompanied by a delegation of senior ministers including from the foreign, trade, manpower, education and cultural ministries.

Yudhoyono is also expected to discuss with Indonesia’s two neighbors the ongoing political crisis in Thailand and the planned elections in Myanmar.

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