US, RI intensify volcanic talks ahead of Obama's arrival

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 11/08/2010

The United States and Indonesia are intensifying talks on volcanology ahead of US President Barack Obama's planned arrival in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Indonesian Ambassador to the US, Dino Patti Djalal, told a press conference in Jakarta on Monday that the US had expressed its intention of boosting cooperation with Indonesia on the issue, including providing assistance, following Mount Merapi's multiple eruptions, which have continued for two weeks now and have now killed more than 130 people.

Dino said the US would also soon send a team of volcanologists to Indonesia to discuss with local volcanologists the way to better predict future volcanic eruptions.

"Over the past 24 hours, we've been intensively communicating with the US on cooperation and support on volcanic issues in regards to the recent Merapi calamities," Dino said at the Presidential Office in Jakarta.

He added that the partnership would be a follow up of the already established cooperation between Indonesian volcanologists and the Hawaii-based US Geological Survey, and would also include Japanese volcanologists.

"So this will be a trilateral partnership between Indonesia, the US and Japan," Dino said.