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NO SPECIAL SBY-OBAMA MEETING ARRANGED IN SEOUL: MARTY

The Jakarta Post, Seoul | Mon, 03/26/2012 12:23 PM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has no immediate plans to have a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama during the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, although both leaders will attend the meeting, according to Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

“However, what is common in such an international meetings like this is what we call a ‘site meeting’,” Marty said on Monday, suggesting that there was still a possibility that Yudhoyono and Obama would meet spontaneously at the conference.

Marty was speaking to Indonesian reporters at the Renaissance Hotel, where Yudhoyono, First Lady Any Yudhoyono, as well as other high-level officials with the Indonesia’s delegation have been staying in Seoul.

The Seoul summit is scheduled to be officially opened later this afternoon, and will continue until March 28. Yudhoyono's attendance at the summit is the final agenda item on his Asian tour, following state meetings in Beijing and Hong Kong, China.

Leaders from 53 countries and four international organizations are taking part in the Seoul event, including Yudhoyono and Obama, as well as Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The summit is part of a greater international process initiated by US President Obama in Washington, DC in 2010. The purpose of the Nuclear Security Summit is to promote international cooperation on combating the threat of nuclear terrorism and better securing nuclear materials.

Unofficial but key issues at the event will include the international response to the North Korean nuclear program.

Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald quoted US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell as he briefed Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Friday as saying that a North Korean rocket launched next month would potentially impact an area between Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Indonesia has adopted what it calls a “free-and-active” foreign policy, which has made it consistent in counting both North and South Korea as friends.

Source : The Jakarta Post