Obama hails US-Indonesia trade deal

The deal will send Boeing planes to an Indonesian company and create jobs back home, underscoring the value of the lucrative Asia-Pacific market to a president needing some good economic news.Obama stood watch as executives of Boeing and Lion Air, a private carrier in Indonesia, signed a deal that amounts to Boeings largest commercial plane order. Lion Air ordered 230 airplanes, and the White House said it would support tens of thousands of jobs in the US.The US president, eager for results to show for his diplomacy here, called the move a remarkable example of the trade, commercial and investment opportunities that exist in the Asia Pacific. Jobs and the state of the economy are defining Obamas re-election bid.Obama dived into a day of diplomatic meetings on the sidelines of summits with Asian leaders.He began with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with whom Obama has developed a close relationship. He later met with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.Obama made a point of meeting with Singh in Bali as part of his mission to devote attention to India, which the administration wants to play a larger role in Asia as the worlds largest democracy. In brief remarks to reporters, Obama and Singh hailed the importance of their nations work together in such areas as maritime security and the effort to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons.The president was appealing to nations large and small for help with the Americas security agenda, anxious to build some regional political balance to the rising might of China.He hopes to emerge with some progress over the hotly contested South China Sea, one of the most vital shipping channels in the world.Obamas Asia-Pacific tour has now brought him home twice first to Hawaii, where he was born, and now to the Indonesia, a nation of thousands of islands where he spent years as a boy. His stop in Bali is driven by his promise to be the first American president to take part in the East Asian Summit, a forum he wants to elevate as a force friendly to American interests.He will attend a meeting with the heads of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, or ASEAN, whose 10 members include host Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The group will expand for the East Asia Summit, a forum that also counts China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the U.S. as members.