The German Chancellor is on a visit to Indonesia to boost bilateral relations accompanied by a heavyweight business and trade delegation. It’s Angela Merkel’s first trip to Indonesia since 1995.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Indonesia Tuesday for an official visit to Southeast Asia’s largest economy. She is to hold talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired army general.
Accompanied by Germany’s state secretary for economic affairs, parliamentarians and representatives of German companies, the focus of the trip is on economic ties.
A senior aide said before leaving Germany, however, that “talks on arms deals are not on the agenda,” and that no specific trade pacts or business contracts were expected to be signed.
Merkel will also meet rights activists, the chief justice of the constitutional court, the site of the country’s tsunami early-warning system, which was built with German assistance, a Protestant church and a mosque.