The Jakarta Post - May 30, 2002

Megawati to visit Europe next month 

Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will embark on a two-week trip to Europe on June 8. The trip will be her second this year since she took office last July.

The highlight of the trip would be the Food and Agriculture Organization summit in Rome, Italy, which is a follow-up to the first food summit held five years ago, Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirayuda said on Wednesday. 

Indonesia, along with 192 other countries would reassess the implementation of the first agreement on food and agriculture, among other issues, he said. 

"Indonesia considers food supply as one of the most strategic aspect, therefore our support along with other countries in terms of food supply becomes important." 

Indonesia received US$60 million in aid recently from the World Food Program to help tackle food shortages in various parts of the country, he added. 

Aside from heads of state, around 4,000 participants, including representatives from international organizations, would also attend the summit. 

The summit was first scheduled to be held in November last year but was postponed following the Sept. 11 attack. 

After Megawati's trip to Rome, she is slated to visit London, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 

"When planning her United States visit last September, the president had talked about plans to visit countries such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but we had to postpone it," Hassan said.