US: Former US president Bill Clinton yesterday praised Indonesia's efforts to rebuild tsunami-hit Aceh but also urged that solid foundations for economic growth be put in place, the official in charge of reconstruction said.
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, who heads the Aceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency, said Mr Clinton told officials not to just focus on reconstruction, but to build a diversified economy.
"One thing he reminded me was that with rebuilding, Aceh should be much better than before. That means that when we talk about rebuilding, it's not only infrastructure and reconstruction, but also economic development," said Mr Kuntoro.
Earlier Mr Kuntoro had lunch with Mr Clinton, the UN's envoy for tsunami relief, who arrived in the local capital Banda Aceh yesterday.
Mr Clinton is visiting some nations hit by the December 26th, 2004, tsunami that was triggered by a powerful earthquake off the coast of Sumatra island. More than 228,000 people were killed or went missing in the waves that hit a dozen Indian Ocean countries. Mr Kuntoro said Mr Clinton called the business plan of the Aceh reconstruction agency the best he had seen.
Mr Clinton also visited Aceh in mid-February, less than two months after the tsunami.
"Progress is incredibly fast and he was really delighted that all the NGOs have already submitted to me 181 project concepts. It's around $600 million," Mr Kuntoro said.
Asked whether Mr Clinton had seen room for improvement, Mr Kuntoro said the former US president focused on a diversified economy.
Before the tsunami, Aceh's economy was largely agriculture and fishing. Parts of the province have natural gas, but these gas fields are not major sources of employment.
Asked about what else could come out of Mr Clinton's visit, Mr Kuntoro said to it was important to ensure that donor countries, non-governmental organisations and the private sector fulfilled their aid pledges. On May 19th Mr Kuntoro said $1.2 billion in foreign aid was ready to be spent on reconstruction in Aceh. His agency is expected to manage nearly $5 billion over the next few years.
Stephen Schwartz, the International Monetary Fund's senior resident representative in Indonesia, said earlier that after a meeting with other aid representatives in Banda Aceh, Mr Clinton was keen to know how he could help. " wanted to hear how things were going and how he could be of help in his capacity to help alleviate specific bottlenecks and constraints that people on the ground are facing," Mr Schwartz said.
Mr Clinton arrived in Aceh following speculation that exhaustion forced him to cancel one leg of his tsunami tour. He has had two heart-related operations in the past year.