NZ FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT INDONESIA

Jakarta, June 13 (ANTARA) - New Zealand Foreign Minister Helen Clark will visit Indonesia later this month to initiate a bilateral cooperation, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

"Although it is too early, we would like to announce that Foreign Minister Clark will pay a three-day visit in Indonesia on June 24-26," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told a press conference.

He said that during the visit the Foreign Minister will discuss with Indonesian officials practical issues of mutual concern that needed deliberations at ministerial level.

The agenda items included ways how to increase economic cooperation and investment between the two countries. When she was assuming the premiership, Clark visited Indonesia in 2007 and met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

She was in Indonesia for a four-day state visit and for signing a cooperation in the immigration sector between the two states.

Besides, she also signed a cooperation on the finance transactions analysis center.

On 27 November 1999 Helen Clark was elected Prime Minister of New Zealand and was also Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, and has responsibility for the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and Ministerial services. Her areas of interest include social policy and international affairs.

Clark was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand during three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008. She led the Labour Party from 1993 until they lost the 2008 general elections.

From October 1990 until December 1993 Helen Clark was Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Opposition spokesperson for Health and Labor, and a member of the Social Services Select Committee and the Labor Select Committee. Helen Clark became Leader of the Opposition on 1 December 1993.

Helen Clark was a Government delegate to the World Conference to mark the end of the United Nations Decade for Women in Nairobi in 1985. In 1986 she was awarded the annual Peace Prize of the Danish Peace Foundation for her work in promoting international peace and disarmament.