Indonesian president unlikely to attend G-15 Summit in Tehran: spokesperson

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has stated on Thursday that he may not come to the G-15 Summit in Tehran in May after receiving the official invitation letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a presidential palace spokesperson said here.

Indonesia is part of the G-15 group, whose members have expanded to 18 developing countries including Iran, Mexico, Venezuela, Egypt, India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Iran accepted G-15's presidency Non-Aligned Summit Meeting in Havana in 2006.

"The invitation letter has been received well, and the President has immediately read it. He said he would consider Indonesia's attendance in the summit, but would take into account his already-planned schedules," Indonesia presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal was quoted by the JakartaPost.com as saying.

The invitation was delivered personally by Iranian Communication and Information Technology Minister Reza Taghipour Anvari during his meeting with Indonesian president earlier on Thursday.

"The President has planned for some foreign visits this May," Dino said.

The Indonesian president is reportedly planning to visit Singapore and Malaysia in mid May, around the same time with the 14th G-15 Summit scheduled for May 17.

Dino added that during the meeting with the Iranian minister, President Yudhoyono was pleased with two-way trade between Indonesia and Iran, which has reached 900 million U.S. dollars in term of value.

"And we expect to boost the figure to exceed 1 billion U.S. dollars in the near future," Dino added.

President Yudhoyono, according to Dino, also hoped that Indonesia can further boost its economic cooperation especially in the field of investment.

Indonesia's state-owned telecommunication firm PT Telkom is presently seeking the way to invest in Iran's telecommunication sector, and this is welcomed by the Iranian government, as expressed by Anvari, Dino said.

"And then there are the refinery project in Banten, and fertilizer manufacturer project in Iran that are expected to be continued and realized," Dino said, referring to projects operated by Indonesian and Iranian businesses in the two respective countries.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6968067.html.