Australia PM says unaware of Wahid visit plans

Australia PM says unaware of Wahid visit plans
REUTERS

Canberra, Feb 11: Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Sunday that he was unaware that Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid was planning a much-delayed trip to Australia in early April, but said he would welcome such a move.

"President Wahid is very welcome in this country... I knowhow important the relationship is and I hope he does come in April," Howard told Channel Nine's Sunday programme.

"We have a very strong interest in having a goodrelationship between our two countries."

Wahid's trip to Australia has been postponed four Timesbecause of festering anti-Australian feeling in Indonesia since Canberra led an international force to restore peace and security in East Timor.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab told reporters onSaturday that Wahid, who is struggling to maintain his grip on power in the midst of an array of domestic problems, would visit Australia along with Nigeria, Abu Dhabi, Sudan and New Zealand in the coming months.

Wahid has visited dozens of countries since taking office15 months ago, triggering widespread criticism that he spends too much time abroad instead of addressing the country's myriad economic and social problems.

In an interview with Channel Nine, Wahid said politicalOpposition would not stop him from making the trip to Australia.

"There are oppositions to the visit from the narrow-mindednationalists that wouldn'T like to see me go to Australia... but you should know that that thing was reciprocated by narrow-minded people in Australia as well," Wahid said.

The Australian-led force went to East Timor following awave of violence in the territory triggered by a landslide vote for independence on August 30, 1999.

Howard said it was in Australia's interest to see a strongand democratic Indonesia. "It's a tough call to be President of Indonesia, it's a big country," Howard said.

"(He) is associated with the transition to democracy. He'sdone a number of very far-sighted things. He's self evidently got a lot of domestic political challenges and a lot of domestic political barriers," Howard said.