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Monday, January 03, 2005
Arroyo to attend disaster summit in Indonesia
MANILA -- President Arroyo will attend a one-day summit in Jakarta on January 6 to discuss handling of catastrophes like the recent earthquake-tsunami that hit several countries in Asia and claimed more than 100,000 lives.
The one-day summit in Indonesia is intended primarily to coordinate the massive international aid being marshaled to help Asian countries recover from the deadly quake and catastrophic tsunamis it caused, Arroyo's spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Sunday.
Bunye said Arroyo would leave on January 6 but he was not yet certain how long she would stay in Jakarta.
He said details of Arroyo's travel are still being worked out.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent the invitation to Arroyo last December 31.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong suggested the conduct of the summit following the tsunami that heavily affected the countries of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and India.
The Philippines, saddled by financial problems and itself still recovering from recent killer typhoons, was not directly affected by the quake-triggered tsunamis.
It has pledged to send small teams of doctors and nurses to help Indonesia and Sri Lanka recover from widespread devastation.
Eight Filipino forensic experts were preparing to head to Thailand late Sunday to help identify decomposing remains of people who perished in the tsunami-hit tourist destination of Phuket in the country's south.
Aside from Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) leaders, others that confirmed their attendance to the meeting include United Nations Chair Koffi Anan, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Australian Prime Minister John Howard. (JMR/With AP)
(January 3, 2005 issue)
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