German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer today embarked on a tour of Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand to assess relief efforts in the tsunami-hit Banda Aceh region and promote Berlin's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

The nine-day trip, which will also take in East Timor and a brief stop in Malaysia, will be Fischer's second visit in a month to areas devastated by the massive ocean surges, foreign ministry spokesman Walter Lindner said yesterday.

Germany is among the main donors to the stricken region, with the government pledging US$653 million in aid, in addition to more than US$521 million the German public has donated.

"He will travel to the area most affected by the catastrophe - Banda Aceh - to see it and the progress of the reconstruction for himself and speak with German aid workers," Lindner told reporters.

Fischer toured Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Maldives last month in the aftermath the tsunami, which claimed the lives of more than 290,000 people.

The German military has anchored a supply ship, the Berlin, off the coast of the Aceh province equipped with a clinic and two water treatment systems and dispatched several teams from its Technical Reconstruction Agency.

The tour, Fischer's third to Asia in eight months, is also aimed and underscoring the growing economic and political importance of the region to Germany, Europe's biggest economy, and the European Union.

Security Council bid

Fischer has stepped up his travel schedule in recent months since Germany, Japan, India and Brazil in September launched a joint bid for permanent seats on the UN Security Council as part of a proposed reform of the body.

They argue that the current set-up dating from the aftermath of World War II is outdated.

In Australia and New Zealand, Fischer will meet his counterparts Alexander Downer and Phil Goff as well as prime ministers John Howard and Helen Clark for talks on international foreign and security policy issues and tsunami aid.

Australia, which is also a major donor to the tsunami relief effort, has declined to throw its weight behind Germany's UN bid, fearing an outsized role for western Europe on the Security Council. The current permanent members are Britain, France, the United States, China and Russia.

Fischer will be only the second EU foreign minister to visit East Timor since it won independence in 2002. Lindner noted that Germany had played an instrumental role in its reconstruction process following more than two decades of struggle against Indonesian rule.

In Malaysia, Fischer will hold political talks in Kuala Lumpur focused on the country's role in the Muslim world. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is head of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Fischer will return to Berlin on Feb 12.