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Indonesia, UK pledge to fight crisis together

Indonesia and the UK pledged Tuesday to work together to fight the global economic crisis wreaking havoc in many developed countries

Mustaqim Adamrah (The Jakarta Post)
LONDON
Thu, April 2, 2009

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Indonesia, UK pledge to fight crisis together

I

ndonesia and the UK pledged Tuesday to work together to fight the global economic crisis wreaking havoc in many developed countries.

During a 15-minute meeting prior to the opening of the Group of 20 leaders' summit, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown that Indonesia would give its full support to the leaders.

"I said I gave full support *for the summit*, with the hope that this summit would result in an internationally coordinated action toward the recovery of the global economy," he told the Indonesian press in London.

"It's important for us to be united to overcome the global economic crisis."

With concrete solutions, financial stability, and trade and investment activities, the world economy would eventually recover, and "cooperation will move again", he said.

Yudhoyono added the UK had become Indonesia's second largest investor in the past five years, with bilateral trade between the two countries valued at US$2.4 billion last year.

He said the two governments had also agreed to continue cooperation in energy.

"I said it was good to have *energy cooperation*, especially *with* BP, to jointly develop environmentally friendly biofuels in Indonesia," he said.

Other issues on the agenda in the talks between Yudhoyono and Brown included cooperation in tourism, in counter-terrorism, and interfaith dialogues.

After meeting with the prime minister, Yudhoyono met with Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

He also met with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for an exchange of information ahead of the summit.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Wednesday that Indonesia was a co-chair of working group 4 at the G20 summit, with the group's agenda related to reforms of regional and world banks, including the Islamic Development Bank.

She added Australia was a co-chair of working group 3, which would deal with reforms in the International Monetary Fund.

Mulyani said further Prime Minister Rudd had stated Australia "is supporting Indonesia to ensure *that Indonesia* can implement the stimulus package without any trouble".

The two governments also discussed policy making over climate change issues, she said.

On Wednesday, Yudhoyono also met with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who will attend the summit as ASEAN chairman.

Yudhoyono also met with the Duke of York Prince Andrew, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso in scheduled bilateral meetings prior to the summit.

On a separate issue, State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said the UK's Prince Charles would ask developed countries to raise funds to help developing countries draw up a comprehensive forest management scheme to fight climate change.

The G20 summit is expected to find ways to resolve the global economic crisis, which has affected not only developed countries in North America and Europe, but also emerging and developing countries, including Indonesia.

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