New York – A joint mission of the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will visit Indonesia in December to set up specific programs under the new Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) initiative.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday met World Bank President Robert Zoellick on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said no specific stolen asset cases would be discussed, with the visit focused more on strengthening Indonesia's asset recovery team.
Former president Soeharto was listed in a UN document that alleged he stole up to US$35 billion during his 32 years in power.
The StAR initiative is a new program under the World Bank and the UNODC aimed at helping both developing and developed benefit from the implementation of the 2003 United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
Indonesia is a party to the UNCAC and will host the upcoming Second Session of States Parties to the UNCAC, to be held in Bali next January. Hassan said the World Bank would co-sponsor with Indonesia this UNCAC meeting in Bali.
Indonesia has expressed interest in participating in the StAR initiative, especially to strengthen its capacity to trace, freeze and recover stolen assets being held in foreign jurisdictions.
According to a joint announcement released after the meeting, Yudhoyono and Zoellick also discussed the bank's new Country Partnership Strategy to support Indonesia's development priorities in the coming years.
The partnership strategy has a particular focus on the areas of poverty reduction, governance reform, environmental sustainability, infrastructure investment and private sector development.
The bank also pledged to support Indonesia's initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation by providing technical and financial support. Indonesia is taking these forestry initiatives ahead of the upcoming UN Convention on Climate Change in Bali in December.
Yudhoyono shared Indonesia's forestry initiatives with 10 other tropical rainforest countries on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Convention in New York on Monday.