Indonesia-China extradition treaty to be signed this year

"Everything related to the extradition treaty has been discussed and it is now only a matter of the two countries` foreign ministers fixing the time to sign it," Sudrajat said.

He said the agreement could be signed either in Indonesia or in China but it was up to the two countries` foreign minister to decide when they would meet to do so.

Sudrajat added that although the two countries` foreign ministers were very busy with their respective affairs, the extradition treaty would surely be signed this year.

He said there would be a number of bilateral events in either China or Indonesia in which the two countries` foreign ministers would be involved and it would probably be during one of those events that the treaty would be signed.

One of those events would be the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Beijing from October 24-25 this year which was also to be attended by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The extradition treaty was a form of cooperation in legal affairs between the two countries under the strategic cooperation agreement signed by President Yudhoyono and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in April 2007.

Various forms of cooperation between Indonesia and China in the economic, political and security fields had been running well so far, he said.

"Last year ...