Press encounter after meeting with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda of Indonesia, (unofficial transcript)

I think the Minister has given you a very clear indication of what we discussed this morning and I do not want to repeat what he has said. But let me simply say that for me it has been a great pleasure to come back to Indonesia with my wife and my team and to have a very, very good discussion with the President and the Ministers.

I was able to reaffirm the UN's respect for the unity and territorial integrity of Indonesia, and our determination to work with the government. And I am also very pleased with the very strong cooperation that exists between the Indonesian government and the UN agencies working there on the ground. We are working on a wide variety of project and I have assured the minister that the UN and its agencies are intent on working with the government on all aspects of social and economic development.

I would also want to thank the Minister and the Indonesian people for the cooperation that they have given us, and as I leave for East Timor this morning I am also mindful of the history and the period of tension that existed between the UN and Indonesia, but that is a thing of the past. As we move forward, I look forward to a very strong relationship between Indonesia and East Timor and the neighboring countries. Of course [inaudible] the government has taken very strong steps to build better relations with all the neighboring countries. And I think this is an era of international cooperation, and that that is the only way we can all make progress, and I am happy to see the government backs us very strongly on this specific issue. *****