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Yudhoyono to visit Iran, Senegal next week
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled next week to visit Iran to foster bilateral ties and then Senegal to attend the 11th Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit, a source at the Presidential Office said Sunday
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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled next week to visit Iran to foster bilateral ties and then Senegal to attend the 11th Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Summit, a source at the Presidential Office said Sunday.
A third country, most likely Mozambique, is said to be on the roster as well.
The overseas trip will be his second this year, after he attended the 50th anniversary of Indonesia-Malaysia diplomatic relations in Malaysia in early January.
The President will leave Jakarta on March 10 for Tehran.
Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visited Indonesia in May 2006, offering economic deals worth over US$4 billion in the oil and gas sector. The Iran-Indonesia Joint Economic Cooperation was created in 1998.
After the two-day Iran visit, Yudhoyono is slated to visit Dakar to attend the two-day 11th OIC Summit, which will be open March 13, 2008.
The 57-member OIC summit, will be preceded by a senior officials meeting and a foreign ministers meeting from March 8-11.
Senegal is home to some 12 million people, 95 percent of them Muslim.
It's not clear when the President will return home, given the plans to visit a third country.
Yudhoyono's planned visit to Iran comes amid a tense debate at the UN Security Council where Indonesia is a non-permanent member over a new resolution on Iran's nuclear program.
After a series of delays Friday and Saturday, the Council is set to vote on the Washington-sponsored resolution Monday (Tuesday in Jakarta).
Jakarta voted in favor of the last resolution in March 2007, wreaking havoc at home when the House of Representatives summoned the President over the criticized decision.
Jakarta may choose not back the resolution this time, relying on the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that cited progress in Iran's efforts to come clean on past nuclear activities.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, writing in Kompas daily Saturday, said new sanctions might be counter-productive, suggesting a different perspective from that of other countries which he said "tended to beat around the bush and be suspicious" on the issue.
Hassan also rued the way five nuclear weapon states -- U.S., UK, France, China, Russia -- toyed with the 189 members of the non-proliferation treaty, saying that countries suspected of unilateralism "become an easy target for bullying".
He also said the government would "take a principled position that refers to the IAEA report and not because of lobbies or pressure from other countries".
Unconfirmed reports say that Hassan was lobbied Wednesday by Iran's Ambassador to Indonesia Behrooz Kamalvandi. Thursday Hassan received a call from U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice.
AFP reported over the weekend that Ahmadinejad said a new resolution would have no effect on Iran's position.
If passed, the resolution would introduce financial monitoring of two banks and call on countries "to exercise vigilance" in granting export credits, guarantees or insurance to Iran.
It would also authorize inspections of shipments to and from Iran that are suspected of carrying prohibited goods.
