Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri arrived in New Delhi on Monday on a four-day visit to hold wide-ranging talks on cooperation in the fields of space, defence, trade and infrastructure development which is expected to give a boost to India`s look-East policy. Soekarnoputri, daughter of former Indonesian President Sukarno, shortly after her arrival flew to Dehradun enroute to Rishikesh where she will be on a private visit till Tuesday.

New Delhi, in past few years, has been focussing on its look-East policy with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visiting Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, currently on a tour of China, having gone to several countries in South East and Far East Asia. The Indonesian leader would hold talks with Vajpayee on April 3 and sign certain agreements including one on visa exemption for diplomats and official passport holders. India feels that Indonesia, the largest member of the Asean, could help strengthen its ties with the powerful grouping especially ahead of the Asean-India Summit scheduled for November this year. Soekarnoputri, who is accompanied by a business delegation, will have a meeting with FICCI and CII on Wednesday. President K R Narayanan will also hold a banquet in her honour. On April 4, she would go to Hyderabad and visit the high-tech city there before leaving for Mumbai from where she would fly home the next morning. Bureau Report