Prime Minister Helen Clark said today that the President of Indonesia, His Excellency KH Abdurrahman Wahid, had advised the New Zealand Government that he plans to visit New Zealand on 27 and 28 June.

President Wahid and several ministers are due to arrive in Christchurch on the afternoon of 27 June and depart early the following day.

The President will meet with Governor-General Dame Sylvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton and other cabinet ministers before attending a state dinner on Wednesday evening.

“President Wahid is the democratically elected leader of the fourth most populous country in the world," Helen Clark said.

“Indonesia is going through a difficult political transition following many years of authoritarian rule. Recent events there remind us of those difficulties.

“The government welcomes the opportunity to discuss with President Wahid and his ministers current developments in Indonesia, how New Zealand might best support Indonesia’s democratic transition, and our mutual interests in the region and internationally,” Helen Clark said.

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>