Obama and Indonesian Leader Discuss Climate

Obama and Indonesian Leader Discuss Climate, Education

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr. Staff Writer

Washington - President Obama met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono June 27 on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit to discuss a climate change initiative and joint educational programs.

Senior U.S. officials told reporters just before the president left for the Group of 20 Summit in Canada that the president believes the U.S. presence in East Asia is vitally important during a period of emerging powers. "It is seen by virtually everyone in the region as a stabilizing force and therefore welcome," senior officials said at a background briefing.

At a press conference with Obama, Yudhoyono told reporters that "stable, dynamic and strong relations between Indonesia and the [United States] is good for our region and for the world."

The United States is working with Indonesia to create a climate change study center that will support research within Indonesia, the region and globally. The United States is providing $7 million for development of the center and $10 million for related projects, Obama said. The climate change center will work closely with national and local authorities and the private sector, linking science to policy on strategic climate priorities, and focusing initially on emissions from peat lands, according to a White House fact sheet.

The education initiative includes $165 million for joint programs aimed at enhancing youth education in Indonesia over five years. Included are exchange programs for leadership and management expertise, scientific and technical expertise, and enhancing cultural understanding between Americans and Indonesians, the president said.

The initiative expands current exchange programs, State Department English-language training, student advising services, and a major five-year effort to improve the quality of higher education in Indonesia through a partnership program between U.S. and Indonesian universities, the White House said. And the United States is sponsoring a higher education summit to advance cooperation in education.

"Indonesia and America are entering and developing a comprehensive partnership which is elevating and transforming our relations based on the equal partnership, and aim to meet the challenges of the 21st century: promoting peace, reforming the world economy [and] addressing climate change," Yudhoyono told reporters.

A senior administration official told reporters before the summit that the United States is building what it calls "a comprehensive partnership" with Indonesia that is befitting for "a country of this magnitude with whom we have not had the strongest relations in the past."

The U.S.-Indonesian partnership includes cooperative programs between the U.S. Defense Department and Indonesia's Ministry of Defense; a $1 billion credit facility in partnership between the U.S. Export-Import Bank and 11 Indonesian banks designed to foster bilateral trade; advances in science and technology cooperation; a clean air project with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Jakarta regional government; and expanded strategic talks between Indonesian officials and the U.S. Department of State.

ENDS

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