OBAMA TO VISIT INDONESIA NEXT YEAR

Jakarta, Oct 7 (ANTARA) - US President Barack Obama will visit Indonesia next year but no fixed date has been made, President Spokesman Patti Djalal said at the Presidential Office here on Wednesday.

"The two leaders agreed on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh last September that Obama's visit to Indonesia would be conducted next year," Djalal said.

He said that although the US president's visit had been agreed to be conducted next year, the fixed date would be decided later.

Previously, Obama was expected to visit Indonesia in November 2009 after attending an APEC summit in Singapore.

Djalal said the planned visit was delayed after the two sides wanted that the visit was an emotional and more significant visit, not a visit conducted in a hurry.

"Previously, the Presidential office and the White House have never yet issued an official time frame for the visit of the US president," the presidential spokesman said.

He said that the two leaders had agreed that the US president's visit would bear an important meaning to discuss the good Indonesia-US relations projection.

Obama, the first US black president, once spent his childhood in Indonesia and had an Indonesian step father.

Therefore, Obama has many memories with Indonesia and had mentioned several times in a number of occasions that he would like to visit Indonesia and enjoy a number of Indonesian special foods.

In the last one year, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Barack Obama have met several times in a number of international events.