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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Indonesia president on first Diamond Jubilee state visit

BBC News, 31 October 2012

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was welcomed to
the UK by the Queen and political figures

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Indonesia's president has arrived in the UK to become the first world leader on a state visit to Britain in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 59, and his wife Ani Bambang Yudhoyono were greeted by a ceremonial welcome at Horse Guards Parade.

They will spend three days in the UK.

There are usually one or two state visits per year, with the next one seeing the Amir of Kuwait arrive in the country on 27 November.

President Yudhoyono and his wife joined the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for a state carriage procession along the Mall to Buckingham Palace.

Mr Yudhoyono will also attend a private lunch at Buckingham Palace, where he and his wife will stay during their visit.

The couple will visit Westminster Abbey, where the president will lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, and are due to visit the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at Clarence House.

The president will also meet Prime Minister David Cameron, and later Labour leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will visit the palace to see him.

The Queen will host a state banquet in honour of her guests on Thursday.

Medal award

The president will meet International Development Secretary Justine Greening before ending his visit on Friday with a speech at the Indonesia-UK Business Forum.

BBC Indonesia correspondent Karishma Vaswani says Indonesians are seeing this as a very important visit.

Mr Yudhoyono is expected to receive a medal of honour from the Queen, as a recognition of the closer ties between the two countries.

The UK is the second largest investor in Indonesia and is keen to do more business there. When Mr Cameron visited Indonesia earlier this year, he said it was time to sell more British defence equipment to an important democracy.

But human rights groups say the UK is moving too quickly and that Indonesia has ignored the plight of its religious minorities, our correspondent added.

Although this is the first full state visit this year, the Queen did host monarchs from 26 countries for a Diamond Jubilee lunch at Windsor Castle in June.

She also hosted a lunch for Commonwealth leaders at Marlborough House on Pall Mall. She was joined by more than 70 guests including representatives of all 54 Commonwealth countries.

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