The FINANCIAL -- WASHINGTON, U.S. President Barack Obama said he intends to visit Indonesia together with his family next year.

"I am very excited about our prospects for deepening relations in the future, and I want to make sure that everybody knows that I intend to be visiting Indonesia next year," he said after a bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Singapore, where the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit took place on the weekend.

"I'm hoping to be able to take Michelle and the girls as well so that they can take a look at some of my old haunting grounds," the president, who attended local schools in the ndonesian capital, Jakarta, from age six to ten, said.

In his turn, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono welcomed Obama's intention to visit the country.

"President Obama is a friend of Indonesia. He knows Indonesia very well, and he is well respected in Indonesia," he said, adding "I look forward to welcoming President Obama to Indonesia next year, and he will be warmly welcomed by the Indonesian people."

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