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span class="caption" style="width: 398px;">State visit: German President Christian Wulff (center) inspects an honor guard upon his arrival in Dhaka on Monday. Wulff arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday evening for a two-day visit and is scheduled to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday.AP/Pavel RahmanPresident Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono has welcomed German President Christian Wulff to Jakarta for a two-day visit, which reciprocates Yudhoyono’s visit to Berlin in 2009.

Wulff, who arrived on Wednesday evening from Bangladesh and will leave on Friday, has brought with him a number of business delegates from the transportation and energy sectors, among others.

Indonesia has enjoyed a close relationship with Germany in the past, when B.J. Habibie was a cabinet minister, vice president and president.

Wulff’s visit is expected to revitalize the relationship between the two countries, although perhaps not to the levels seen during Habibie’s presidency.

“The Habibie era was a combination of what had been built up before. The fact that he studied in Germany and spoke German like a native German was really a boost,” German Ambassador Norbert Baas said on Wednesday.

“However, I don’t really think that can be restored because the leadership of Indonesia today is a little bit less European or German-minded.”

Indonesian presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Wulff was scheduled to meet Yudhoyono at midday on Thursday and have a state dinner banquet at the Presidential Palace later in the evening.

“The visit of His Excellency Christian Wulff is expected to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries, which will turn 60-years-old in 2012,” Faizasyah said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

According to Faizasyah, the meeting would explore fields of cooperation that Indonesia and Germany could develop in the future.

Head of the press and culture section at the German Embassy, Christoph Seemann, said Wulff was scheduled to visit Kalibata Heroes’ Cemetery in South Jakarta, to deliver a public speech at the University of Indonesia and to meet, among others, People’s Consultative Assembly speaker Taufik Kiemas, before attending the banquet, all on Thursday.

According to Seemann, on Friday, Wulff will meet ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and a number of Indonesian civil society and religious groups and thinkers before returning home.