President Yudhoyono To Receives Belarusian Head Of State

Jakarta, March 19 (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to receive his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko at Merdeka Palace here on Tuesday. The Belarussian president is on a state visit to Indonesia from March 18-20, 2013 in the run up to the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Belarus. Presidential special staff for international relations Teuku Faizasyah has said that during the bilateral meeting the two leaders would focus their discussion on a joint effort to step up economic cooperation. "In the bilateral meeting the two leaders will discuss joint efforts to step up cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, agriculture, science and technology," Teuku said. Besides, he added that a number of memorandum of understandings (MoUs) on the two countries cooperation will be signed before Presidents Yudhoyono and Lukashenko. "Lukashenko is also scheduled to meet with a number of Indonesian business players, and to visit Kalibata heroic cemetery in East Jakarta," he said. Teuku noted that the visit by President Lukashenko indicated the interest of East European countries in Indonesia as their important partner in Asia. He added that the visit was expected to yield a concrete cooperation in various fields, particularly in economy. "As a member of Eurasian Economic Community together with Russia and Kazakhstan, Belarus is expected to be a gateway for Indonesian products into East European countries and Russia," he said.