Jakarta – Military cooperation between Indonesia and the United States was high on the agenda at a meeting between Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and US Pacific commander Adm. William J. Fallon here on Thursday.

TNI's acting spokesman Brig. Gen. Suhartono Suratman said that the discussion at TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, included International Military Education Training (IMET).

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hinted in February that the US was ready to restore military cooperation with Indonesia. Rice said at that time that she would consult with Congress before fully restoring the IMET program which was frozen in 1991 after Indonesian soldiers massacred demonstrators in a graveyard in mostly Catholic East Timor.

The ties were further scaled back in 1999, after the Indonesian military orchestrated a scorched earth campaign killing hundreds, following East Timor's vote for independence in a UN-sponsored plebiscite.

The embargo on the sale of Hercules aircraft's spare parts, however, was lifted after the huge natural disaster that devastated Aceh and Nias in North Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004.

Endriartono also conveyed the Indonesian people's gratitude to the US government for its military aid in the aftermath of the disaster in Aceh and Nias.

Fallon is scheduled to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday with Endriartono.