RI, US TO STEP UP OVERALL PARTNERSHIP

New York, Sept 15 (ANTARA) - Indonesia and the United States on Tuesday agreed to step up their overall partnership.

The agreement, marked with the establishment of a biomedical research and public health center, was reached at a meeting of Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari with her US counterpart Kathleen Sebelius in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Following the agreement, the health ministries of the two countries planned to improve health-care cooperation under the overall partnership.

To follow up on the partnership, the governments of both countries would hold annual top officials bilateral meetings and regular ministerial meetings.

It is expected that the governments of Indonesia and the United States will step up and expand their biomedical research in the interest of public health.

Tuesday's meeting of Siti Fadilah Supari with her US counterpart Kathleen Sebelius in Washington, was regarded as the first step toward cooperation between the two countries' health ministries.

Such a cooperation is important in an effort of the two countries to develop scientific exchanges, technology transfer, human resources development, and public health research on global diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, and influenza.

As a first step toward that end, the two governments of both countries also agreed to set up a new institution which they call "Indonesia-United States Center for Biomedical and Public Health Research."
The partnership will cover the development of scientific exchanges, new researches on public health clinics, and training programs.