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Megawati given hearty send-off

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri left Dhaka for Mongolia yesterday concluding her three-day tour that perked up her country's trading ties with Bangladesh.
President Iajuddin Ahmed, his wife Prof Anwara Iajuddin and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia gave Megawati a hearty send-off at Zia International Airport yesterday morning.
Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan, diplomats, prime minister's political secretaries, chiefs of the three services and senior civil and military officials were present, among others, at ZIA.
Before Megawati along with her husband Taufiq Kiemas boarded a special Garuda Indonesia aircraft, two small children presented her
SEE PAGE 11 COL 8 FROM PAGE 1 with bouquets.
She is on the second leg of her 10-day Asia tour. The tour will also take her to Japan and Vietnam.
Earlier, a contingent of the three services presented her a guard of honour. She took salute while the band played national anthems of the two countries.
Four jets of the Bangladesh Air Force escorted the aircraft carrying the Indonesian leader to the Bangladesh air limits. During Megawati's visit to Dhaka, two memorandums of understanding, an agreement and a letter of exchange were signed to add a fillip to trade and commerce between the two countries.
These are: the Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Counter Trade Arrangement, another MoU on the formation of Indonesia-Bangladesh Joint Business Council and a letter of exchange listing commodities, which will fall under the 'counter trade' arrangement.
Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury hoped that under the new counter trade arrangement trading of commodities worth $20 million would take place in the first year with no LCs required for businessmen.
Bangladesh has already listed 17 commodities and will propose seven items under the arrangement in the first phase.
During her visit, Bangladesh also got Indonesian support in its bid to become a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
The ARF brings together 10 ASEAN members -- Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and 13 nonASEAN members -- European Union (EU), Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, North Korea, Russia, the United States, Papua New Guinea and Mongolia.