0 SBY set to tour African countries

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will make his first foreign trip of 2013 by visiting three African countries and Saudi Arabia later this week in an effort to seek new economic cooperation opportunities on the heels of the European depression. Yudhoyono is scheduled to attend the third meeting of the UN High Level Panel (HLP) on the Post-Millennium Development Goals in Monrovia, Liberia, which will be held from Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, according to presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah on Monday. Yudhoyono, Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson and British Prime Minister David Cameron are co-chairs of the panel. 

The President will also attend the 12th Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Cairo, Egypt on Feb. 6, despite unrest in Egyptian cities. Faizasyah said that the government had been keeping an eye on the situation in Egypt following the fatal riot. “We are closely monitoring the developments in Egypt but so far everything is still on schedule,” Faizasyah said. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said he had called Egyptian officials on Monday morning. “The summit’s organizer said there was no change in the schedule but we keep anticipating, whatever the Egyptian government may decide,” he said.

Faizasyah added that Yudhoyono deemed the OIC summit to be very important because it would discuss numerous crucial issues in the Islamic world such as the conflicts in Syria and Mali. Yudhoyono, First Lady Ani Yudhoyono and the delegation will leave Jakarta on Wednesday for Monrovia. “The President’s visits to the African and Middle-Eastern countries are a combination of a bilateral and multilateral diplomatic agenda,” Faizasyah told The Jakarta Post. 

From Monrovia, the Indonesian delegation will head to Abuja, Nigeria, in a state visit. Indonesia’s previous state visit to the oil-rich country was in 2001 under the leadership of the late president Abdurrahman Wahid. Yudhoyono is also scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. From Nigeria, Yudhoyono will then fly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on a working visit. He and his wife will also serve a minor pilgrimage to Mecca. Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, along with Malaysia, are the top three crude oil exporters to Indonesia. Indonesia’s products also enjoy great market penetration in African countries including Nigeria, such as Indomie instant noodle and state-owned Pertamina’s automotive lubricants.

source : the jakarta post