Fed: Nauru president to meet with Downer in Melbourne today

AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2004
Fed: Nauru president to meet with Downer in Melbourne today

MELBOURNE, April 19 AAP - The president of Nauru, Rene Harris, and Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer are expected to meet in Melbourne this afternoon to discuss
the Pacific Island's financial crisis.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokeswoman confirmed Mr Harris would
hold talks with Mr Downer, at an undisclosed location, between 2pm (AEST) and 3pm today.

The federal government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nauru which allows
people seeking asylum in Australia to be processed at a detention facility on the Pacific
Island.

Last month, Mr Downer said Australia would provide Nauru with $22.5 million to help
stabilise the country's economy and strengthen law and order.

But Nauru's financial problems have worsened, with American financial giant General
Electric Capital Corporation having appointed receivers to recover a debt of more than
$230 million racked up by the tiny Pacific Island republic in relation to its offshore
properties.

Nauru's Australian spokeswoman Helen Brogden recently said the Nauru House Property
Trust had a property portfolio, including Melbourne's Collins Street high rise Nauru House,
Sydney's Mercure Hotel and Royal Randwick Shopping Centre, and the Downtowner and Savoy
Park Plaza hotels in Melbourne.

AAP bw/gfr/maur/jlw

KEYWORD: NAURU AUST

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