Rice is scheduled to arrive on January 8 and hold talks with officials the next day, foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said.

"The planned visit has been confirmed," Thamrin told AFP. He did not give further details.

Rice's visit is another sign of improved relations between the United States and the world's most populous Muslim nation. The United States last month decided to resume military grants to Indonesia.

US officials said resumption of Foreign Military Financing, which had been suspended with other military aid over human rights and other concerns, would help anti-terrorism efforts, maritime security and disaster relief.

The United States stepped up sanctions in 1999 after militias directed by the Indonesian army killed some 1,400 people during East Timor's drive for independence.

Ties soured further in 2002 when the Indonesian army was accused of blocking US investigations into the killing of two US schoolteachers in the country's Papua province.

Relations took an upturn, however, after the United States mounted a massive military relief operation to help Indonesian victims of the December 26, 2004, tsunami.

US President George W. Bush and his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at a White House summit in May decided to work toward closer defense relations.

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