Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is set to visit the United States, the European Union headquarters in Belgium, and Japan during his official trip later this month in a bid to boost ties with major countries.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie was quoted Tuesday by The Jakarta Post as saying the President and his entourage, including business people, will depart on May 24 for the eight-day trip.

"The President has visited Malaysia and Singapore. He has also visited Australia. So the next destination will be the United States and Japan, as the United Kingdom and France are currently staging general elections," he said. The President will also pay a visit to the European Union headquarters in Brussels ahead of bilateral visits to member countries sometime in the future, Aburizal added.

In the United States, Susilo is scheduled to meet United States President George W. Bush, a number of other senior government officials, legislators and business people

Economic issues will be the main agenda of the bilateral talks between Susilo and Bush, apart from issues related to counter terrorism and money laundering, Aburizal said.

During his visit to Tokyo, President Susilo will raise economic affairs, trade, investment and other bilateral issues between the Indonesian and Japanese governments as well as private sectors of both countries. He is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

State Minister of National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati is expected to fly to the United States ahead of the arrival of Susilo, to attend an event aimed at garnering more support from American people for tsunami victims in Aceh.

Aburizal himself will leave for Tokyo on April 17 to meet his counterpart for talks on economic affairs.

During the one-week trip, the President will bring along a number of Indonesian business people, mostly members of the Indonesian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Kadin).

Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla is slated to make an official visit to Singapore and Malaysia from Wednesday to Saturday, aiming at following up on the results of Susilo's visit to the two countries last month.

Vice Presidential Office press bureau head Evac C. Mintaredja said Kalla is set to meet, among others, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Singaporean business people as well as Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and Malaysian business people.