Hungarian president visits Indonesia to boost ties

Veeramalla Anjaiah ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 05/21/2008 10:44 AM  |  World

WELCOMING CEREMONY: Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom (right) is welcomed by Indonesian Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban in Jakarta on Monday. (JP/R.Berto Wedhatama)

Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom arrived in Jakarta on Monday on an official state visit to Indonesia to foster common ties, said Hungarian Ambassador to Indonesia Mih*ly Ill*s in Jakarta.

"It is President S*lyom's first visit to Indonesia," Ill*s told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

S*lyom is on a Southeast Asia tour that includes Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore.

On Wednesday, S*lyom will meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono and head of the Regional Representatives Council Ginandjar Kartasasmita. He will lay a wreath at the Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery.

"Our president will deliver a lecture on global warming, climate change and environmental protection at the University of Indonesia," Ill*s said.

The title of S*lyom's lecture will be "Mitigation of Climate Change: Duty and Opportunity".

Ill*s said the Hungarian president will witness the signing of an agreement setting out the general and financial terms, conditions and procedures for accessing Hungarian tied credits to Indonesia.

Relations, Ill*s said, between Indonesia and Hungary are excellent.

"Indonesia is considered one of the main economic partners for Hungary in the Southeast Asia region," he said.

The presidential visit comes 14 years after then Hungarian president Arp*d G*ncz visited Indonesia in September 1994. From the Indonesian side former president Megawati Soekarnoputri visited Hungary in September 2002.

Trade between Indonesia and Hungary in 2007 totaled US$114.9 million, with Indonesian exports to Budapest reaching $93.6 million and imports from Hungary at $21.3 million.

Indonesia mainly exports rubber, textile, footwear, palm oil, spices, leather. rattan, plastic products and handicrafts to Hungary while Indonesia imports pharmaceutical products, chemicals, electrical, electronic and optical products, engineering equipment and machinery.

S*lyom, an academic, was elected president of Hungary in June 2005.

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