SBY to head to Switzerland, Japan next week

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled next week to visit Switzerland, to attend the International Labor Conference (ILC), and Japan, to see how it has recovered after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

“The President will deliver a speech in Geneva [at the International Labor Conference],” presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said in Jakarta on Thursday.

On the sidelines of the event, the President will meet with the director general of the United Nations office in Geneva, the director general of the World Health Organization, and the special envoy to the UN Secretary-General for disaster risk reduction.

Accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, the President is also scheduled to visit the headquarters of the International Labor Organization in Geneva.

Julian said Yudhoyono would leave for Switzerland on Monday morning and head to Japan on Wednesday.

The President's planned visit to Japan is on an invitation from the Japanese emperor, to see the condition of especially Miyagi prefecture, one of the areas worst hit by the March earthquakes and tsunami.

“In Japan, the President will meet with Prime Minister Naoto Kan and attend other meetings,” Julian said, as quoted by Antara.

He added that Yudhoyono would visit a refugee center in Miyagi, and would hand over some humanitarian aid to Japan.

The President is also scheduled to deliver a presidential lecture at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.