JAKARTA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Indonesia Tuesday for her first official visit to Southeast Asia's largest economy for talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and business leaders.

Merkel, who took office in 2005, will also meet rights activists and the chief justice of the constitutional court in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

She is due to visit the site of the country's tsunami early-warning system, which was built with German assistance, as well as a Protestant church and a mosque.

German government sources have described Indonesia as a comparably stable developing country with robust prospects, but expressed concerns about frequent human rights violations in the resources-rich province of West Papua.

During the trip Merkel also aims to take up issues of regional security such as the fight against piracy in the Strait of Malacca linking the Indian Ocean with the Pacific, German officials said ahead of the visit.

Indonesia said earlier this month it would turn to Germany for a tank deal, after a $280 million bid to buy 100 Leopard battle tanks from the Netherlands fell through.

But a senior Merkel aide said before her departure from Germany that "talks on arms deals are not on the agenda", adding that no specific trade pacts or business contracts were expected to be signed.

The aide said there were no plans for her to hold talks with visiting International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who is in Jakarta at the same time as the German leader.

Bilateral trade relations have developed briskly in recent years with Germany exporting 3.4 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in goods and services to Indonesia in 2011.

Imports from the country were valued at 3.3 billion euros. - AFP

• Crown selling entire 10% in rival Echo, partly owned by Genting
• First edition of 'Great Gatsby' to be sold at auction, can fetch US$150,000
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Markets face rough summer ride as Fed pullback feared
• Wall Street sags, HP hits 52-week high
• Commodities trader sues BP, Shell others for alleged oil price fixing
• Billionaire Icahn seeks up to US$7bil for Dell bid
• Google faces new federal antitrust probe
• Goldman Sachs unveils checks on conflicts in bid to fix tarnished image
• Air Asia's Tony Fernandes to ‘fire up’ investors
• Maybank bullish on growth, to expand regionally under new leadership
• Khazanah appoints Nor Mohamed deputy chairman
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August
• Daibochi expanding exports to S-E Asia and Australia
• TDM to expand plantation and hospital ops

• Strong quake strikes off Tonga
• Jury fails to decide on US murderer death sentence
• One killed in Brazil giant fuel depot blaze

• BAM must stop rewarding mediocrity or be doomed
• Gritty Indonesia give mighty China a huge scare
• Yong-dae believes luckless run in world meet will end in Guangzhou
• Chin Chai will not take up offer as CNT committee chairman
• BAM secretary: It all depends on Kien Keat and Boon Heong now
• Chong Wei urges team-mates to put Cup exit behind
• Kelly overcomes scare to clinch title in KLGCC
• Time to make amends Garcia wants to meet Woods to defuse racist row
• American Johnson back to defend Colonial crown
• Rain dampens debut of LPGA Bahamas event
• Tianlang adds another US event to schedule
• Malaysia to host 2016 World Table Tennis meet
• Masziyaton lets slip medal chance in Myanmar
• Nicol David sails into quarter-finals of British Open in 35 minutes
• Nor Aliyah smashes 18-year-old 200m record in MSSM meet

• Please wait.

• TDM to expand plantation and hospital ops
• Lafarge Malayan Cement to finalise next expansion plans by August
• KL car number plates to bear ‘W1A’
• Malaysia leads the way in Basel III debt
• Daibochi expanding exports to S-E Asia and Australia
• Danajamin names non-exec director
• Stop the accidents on MRR2 with road humps
• Long wait at passport office
• Strong quake strikes off Tonga
• One killed in Brazil giant fuel depot blaze