The Indonesian government decided not to include the discussion on a debt
moratorium for Indonesia in the agenda of the international emergency relief
summit on Jan.6, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said.
However, the minister said that the government would not rejectany offers
that might come from the donors countries to discuss it,reported the Jakarta
Post daily on Wednesday.
"The debt moratorium will not be discussed in the coming summit,but if some
countries would like to bring it up, we would welcome it," Hassan said following
a limited cabinet meeting to discuss the preparations for the summit at the
State Palace.
The Indonesian government expects to secure pledges from international donors
at the summit for the rehabilitation of provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra,
which were hit hard by an earthquake and tsunamis that followed on Dec. 26,
2004.
Indonesia would spend at least 10 trillion rupiah (1.07 billionUS dollars)
for reconstruction in the provinces over the next fiveyears.
Elsewhere, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that the government would welcome
any debt rescheduling offers, and had asked the National Development Planning
Agency (Bappenas) to look into whichdebts could be rescheduled.
The vice president further said the government should take the initiative to
pursuit the offer from donor countries to support relief efforts in Aceh
province.
Some 26 countries as well as international organizations have agreed to
attend Thursday's emergency meeting, which will discuss various rehabilitation
programs for the affected countries as wellas an early warning system in the
region to prevent a repeat of such a calamity.