HILLARY CLINTON TO VISIT INDONESIA FEBRUARY 18-19

Jakarta, Feb 7 (ANTARA) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to visit Indonesia on February 18-19 to meet with her Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirajuda, and also pay a courtesy call on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Indonesia will use the opportunity to discuss ways to increase the countries' cooperation in various fields, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said at a press conference here on Friday.
He said Clinton had expressed her intention to visit Indonesia to him on a telephone conversation on Monday.
"During the conversation we agreed to explore the right dates for it," he said.
As announced recently by the US foreign department, Clinton planned to visit Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China.
Her move to choose East Asia for her first visit as a state secretary was something new as former US secretaries of state always chose Europe as the first region to visit after taking office.
"We appreciate the priority that the Obama administration has given through Hillary Clinton to Asia and also to us so that we will be able to have contacts including telephone conversattions in the early days of his administration," Wirajuda said.
The phone conversations between Clinton and Wirajuda and Clinton's upcoming visit would all happen within a month after President Obama took office.
"This could be seen as the significance the US is giving to its relations with Indonesia," he said.
On the other hand, the minister said, Indonesia was also considering the US as an important partner, including in trade, investment, scientific and culrural cooperation.
"So Clinton's visit will be a precious opportunity for us to discuss further our partnership. We still have 12 days to prepare in detail the agenda for her visit including on how and in what ways our partnership can be developed in the future," he said.
Wirajuda did not elaborate on the topics to be discussed with Clinton but said they would include bilateral as well as regional and international issues.
Asked about the question of Hambali, the Indonesian citizen currently being held in Guantanamo for alleged involvement in terrorism, the minister said he could not as yet confirm that it would be discussed with the US secretary of state.
Regarding the US government's decision to close the Guantanamo prison, Wirajuda said he had no idea what the US government would do with Hambali.
"We have not talked about Hambali," he said. "We do not know precisely yet if the detainees will be distributed to penitentiaries in the US or a selection will be done to determine those who could be held in other places, legally processed or released following the closure of the Guantanamo prison," he said.