Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, Jun 17, 2014
Jakarta. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Fiji on Tuesday — the first visit by a sitting president of Indonesia to the island nation — in a move to strengthen ties with South Pacific states as well as to clear up diplomatic disagreements over the situation in Papua.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono makes the first visit by a sitting Indonesian president to Fiji, in a three-day trip starting on June 17, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Toru Hanai) |
Jakarta. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Fiji on Tuesday — the first visit by a sitting president of Indonesia to the island nation — in a move to strengthen ties with South Pacific states as well as to clear up diplomatic disagreements over the situation in Papua.
South
Pacific countries, and bodies such as the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), an
intergovernmental organization made up of Melanesian states, have a history of
supporting Independence for Papua and West Papua — issues sure to overshadow
Yudhoyono’s visit.
Indonesia’s
harsh efforts to suppress Papuan nationalism have met with widespread criticism
in the region.
Yudhoyono
will attend the second Pacific Islands Development Forum, currently underway in
Fiji, where he has been asked to deliver the keynote speech on development
programs.
The visit
was initiated by the Fiji government in order to strengthen bilateral
relations.
“My duty is
to increase the partnership with those countries, and we will explain our
policy in Papua correctly so that we can reduce any misinformation about Papu,”
Yudhoyono told journalists at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in East Jakarta
before his departure.
He cited
Indonesia’s strong, although rocky at times, relationships over the past decade
with Australia, East Timor, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea as evidence that
stronger relationships could be developed with Melanesian states.
“They all
respect the unity of Indonesia,” he said. “Therefore it is an important matter
for geopolitics in the South Pacific and Southwest Pacific.”
Teuku
Faizasyah, a member of the president’s special staff for foreign affair, said
that Fiji was an important country in the South Pacific for Indonesia, as
highlighted by the visit.
Yudhoyono
ends his second five-year term in office in October.
The
president is scheduled to have a private meeting with Fiji President Ratu Epeli
Nailatikau and a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Voreqe Josaia
Bainimarama. The two countries were set to discus collaboration in the arenas
of culture, governance, maritime issues, regional and international affairs,
and sports.
First Lady
Ani Yudhoyono and several cabinet ministers were set to accompany the president
for a three-day visit.
President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono meets Fijian President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau
in the
Sheraton Hotel, Fiji, on June 18, 2014. (Twitter Photo/@SBYudhoyono)
|
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