Heads of Gambia, Indonesia to forge closer ties with RP

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Gambian President Yahya Jameh arrived yesterday afternoon to boost security and economic ties with the Philippines.

The two leaders landed one after the other at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

Yudhoyono and his party flew in at 4 p.m., while Yahya and his entourage arrived two hours later.

Vice President Noli de Castro welcomed Yudhoyono at the tarmac as he disembarked from a special Garuda Indonesia flight.

Mrs. Arroyo, who traveled for a day-long business trip to Hong Kong yesterday, will meet the two presidents separately today.

Yudhoyono is expected to discuss ways to bolster a joint fight against al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists, and improve economic ties during his three-day visit.

On the other hand, Yahya said Gambia would support the Philippine bid for observer status at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), when the 57-member union of Islamic countries convenes for the 32nd Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Yemen this month.

Yudyohono planned to meet with the Indonesian community at the Westin Philippine Plaza last night and would be at Malacañang this afternoon for talks and an official dinner with Mrs. Arroyo.

Yudyohono will also call on Senate President Franklin Drilon and have lunch with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza, Armed Forces Southern Command chief, will meet with Yudyohono at the Westin today.

Yahya will also tour the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Center for International Trade Exhibitions and Missions, World Trade Center, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Private Residential Rehabilitative Institutions and the Department of Health’s research and training facilities.

Yudhoyono is in Manila as part of his introductory visits to Southeast Asian neighbors following his election last October.

He will be accompanied by his wife Ani Bambang Yudhoyono, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirajuda, Minister of Trade Mari Elka Pangetsu and other senior officials.

The bilateral talks between Mrs. Arroyo and Yudyohono will include the revitalization of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asia Growth Area.

Yudhoyono is expected to personally thank Mrs. Arroyo for the rescue last Sunday of two Indonesian seamen who were kidnapped last March by secessionists.

A third Indonesian remains in rebel custody.

Yahya, also here for three days, will witness the signing of agreements promoting cooperation in science, health and medicine.

The West African nation’s foreign minister, Musa Gibril Bala-Gaye, told Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo Gambia would back the Philippine application for an observer seat in the OIC when its foreign ministers meet in Yemen on June 27-30.

Bala-Gaye said Gambia has always been supportive of the Philippine

application with the OIC and has even called on other Western African OIC member-countries to support it.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Gambian president’s visit would open opportunities to improve economic relations and create stronger ties between the business and private sectors of the two nations.

The OIC has invited the Philippines to the ICFM in Yemen this month where the government will push its observer status bid in the 56-member union of Islamic countries.

Romulo will represent the country as its guest in the ICFM from June 27-30 in Yemen’s capital of Sana’a.

The Philippines application was never included in the OIC agenda for discussion since it was filed in 2003.

But Romulo said the government would continue pursuing the country’s observer status bid until it is approved by the OIC.

The OIC’s approval of an observer status to the Philippines would mean sharing the seat with the Moro National Liberation Front.

The MNLF, which has been holding an observer status in the OIC for three decades, is recognized by the OIC as the sole legitimate representative of Muslims in Mindanao.

But the OIC Charter provides that only countries with majority Muslim population may be granted observer status in the Islamic union. — With Rainier Allan Ronda, AP