FOREIGN MINISTRY DENIES USING FOREIGN LOBBYIST TO ARRANGE JOKOWI-OBAMA MEETING

Retno Marsudi: Menlu RI Perempuan Pertama

Jakarta, 26 Muharram 1437/8 November 2015 (MINA) – The Foreign Ministry has denied using lobbyists to arrange a visit of President Joko Widodo to the United States to meet President Barack Obama, saying the visit had been long prepared by the ministers and officials concerned.

“We do not use or pay foreign lobbyist in preparing the president’s visit to the United States,” he told a press conference here on Saturday.

Retno made the remarks to dismiss rumors circulating on the press that the President’s visit was facilitated by foreign lobbyists.

Retno also confirmed that the preparation was arranged by the officials and the relevant ministers officially and formally through various meetings, both with the US Government as well as at internal level, Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA), quoting Antara News, reported.

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“I myself chaired the meeting for the preparation of the visit three times at the ministerial level on September 17,
October 7 and October 17. So, there are three preparatory meetings at the ministerial level,” said the former Indonesian Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to her, has led the coordination meetings with relevant ministries and institutions as much as 10 times, including the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Defence and the Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) and with the US side as much as 20 times.

“I myself have a bilateral meeting with the Secretary of State John Kerry on 22 September 2015. In the meeting, once again we discussed the planned visit, and announced that President Jokowi to visit the US on October 26, 2015,” said
former Ambassador RI to the Kingdom of Norway.

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Retno explained, initial talks for the visit came up during the high-level meeting of the Economic Cooperation Asia-
Pacific (APEC) in Beijing, China, at the end of 2014.

On 10 November 2014, on the sidelines of the APEC meeting, President Jokowi and President Obama held a bilateral meeting and Obama verbally invited the president to visit his country.

Following up the APEC meeting, in March 2015 Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affars Dr. Evan Mediros, paid a special visit to Indonesia to convey the official invitation of President Obama to President Jokowi. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).