Putin, Yudhoyono discusses defence, trade cooperation in Moscow

Moscow, Dec 1 (UNI) Russian President Vladimir Putin today started talks with his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Kremlin, during which the two sides were expected to focus on defence and trade and economic cooperation.

About a dozen agreements were expected to be signed after the talks in different fields including trade, economy, energy, security, space and military-technical cooperation.

''Trade and business ties between our countries have exceeded the level of half a billion dollars. However, such a volume is quite inconsiderable. Of course, we can and should bring them to 1 billion dollar in the near future,'' Putin said at the start of the talks.

However, arms supplies were likely to dominate the Indonesian President's first ever three-day visit to Russia, RIA Novosti said.

''Issues of military-technical cooperation between our countries will be discussed in detail during my official visit to Russia,'' Yudhoyono said just before his visit to Russia.

Leading Russian business daily, Kommersant, reported today that Moscow will give a five-year loan to Indonesia worth 1 billion dollar in two 500-million dollar tranches to purchase Russian armaments and military equipment, with which Jakarta, in particular intends to buy Su-30MK2 Flanker fighters and two diesel-electric Amur-1650 (Lada-class) submarines.

Interestingly, after a span of three years, Moscow-Jakarka military-technical cooperation has again resumed, the paper reported.

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