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To: goldsnow who wrote (12143)	5/26/1998 8:49:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116822

Gold summit? EU leaders to meet Mandela at summit By Toby Helm, EU Correspondent, in Brussels telegraph.co.uk NELSON Mandela has accepted an invitation from Tony Blair to be guest of honour at next month's European Union summit in Cardiff. The move could hasten a long-awaited deal to remove trade barriers between the EU and South Africa. Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary, is expected to confirm Mr Mandela's visit, his first to an EU summit, in a speech in the European Parliament today. British officials said it was "very rare" for a head of state or government from outside the EU to attend a European summit. They said the primary purpose was for Mr Mandela to say "goodbye" to European leaders before he steps down as president next year. News of his guest appearance comes as diplomats and politicians in Brussels struggle to conclude a three-year-old round of negotiations aimed at dismantling tariff barriers between South Africa and the EU. Such a trade package is seen by Mr Mandela as important to his country's economic transition and has been a priority of the British presidency of the EU which concludes at the end of June. But the talks have hit serious difficulties in recent weeks, with each side wanting the other to make substantial concessions. Diplomats in Brussels said the South Africans were meeting stiff resistance from Mediterranean countries to their call that South African products, including canned fruits and fruit juice, should be allowed into EU markets tariff free. The South Africans are opposed to ending tariffs on imports of European clothing, textiles and cars. One EU diplomat involved in the talks said: "We are trying to negotiate something very ambitious, very innovative and very wide-ranging. There are many areas still to be resolved and we will not do that in three weeks." The challenge is to strike a deal that would be politically and economically acceptable to all countries and would satisfy the World Trade Organisation's stringent rules. South Africa is already the largest recipient of EU development aid in Africa, benefiting from around œ75 million in assistance every year.

To: goldsnow who wrote (12143)	5/26/1998 8:53:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116822

Jakarta bank run heightens fear of economic collapse By Alex Spillius in Jakarta DEPOSITORS rushed to withdraw their money from Indonesia's largest private bank yesterday as rumours spread that it was running out of money. The run on the bank came amid deep anxiety about an economic meltdown despite the fall of President Suharto. Branches of the Bank of Central Asia, owned by Liem Sioe Liong, one of Mr Suharto's closest business partners, and two of the former ruler's children, were besieged by customers. At one point the queue stretched for half a mile and customers waited up to two hours to withdraw cash. The run came after several days of heavy withdrawals following the riots that devastated much of the capital's commercial centre. As a symbol of the Suhartos' wealth, the bank was a target of the rioters, with 122 branches and 1,250 cash machines destroyed by mobs. Yesterday, at a branch in the business district, guards let in customers 20 or 30 at a time to avoid a crush at windows where clerks counted out stacks of cash. A spokesman declined to comment on the bank's financial position, saying only that all deposits and loans were "guaranteed by the government". Press reports that Mr Liong's son, Anthony, who holds a 23.15 per cent share in the bank, had committed œ60.6 million to replenish its funds, failed to calm depositors' confidence in Jakarta or other major cities, where there were similar scenes. Almost every bank chain in the city has been closing its offices at lunchtime since re-opening on Friday to limit withdrawals and allow staff to process the frantic morning's business. As the euphoria over Mr Suharto's resignation six days ago subsides, Indonesians are painfully aware that the economic problems that his regime bequeathed could become even worse unless Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, his successor, tackles them soon. The country has foreign debts of œ82 billion, the rupiah has lost all its credibility, interest rates are over 60 per cent, prices have doubled and unemployment has soared. A team of International Monetary Fund officials arrived in Jakarta yesterday to assess the new government's commitment to economic reform and whether the next instalment of its suspendedœ24 billion aid package should be paid. Mr Habibie, who served as vice-president under Mr Suharto and is tainted by his close association with him, has yet to convince doubters of his willingness to overhaul a system plagued by corruption, despite his promise to hold elections "as soon as possible". The new president met some of his leading critics at the presidential palace in the morning in another effort to prove his reformist credentials, and then toured Chinatown, one of the areas most badly ravaged by the violence two weeks ago.