African countries told to look east<\/p>\n
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): The successful development of Asian countries
\nwere cited in an international forum here yesterday as an
\nostensible outline to be emulated by African states which have
\nthus far pursued the singular approach of European and North
\nAmerican models.<\/p>\n
"One of the things that Africa has done is to have used the
\nmodel of Europe and North America, and while those have some
\nrelevance and benefits, we believe that the development models do
\nnot stop at the doors of Europe and North America," said Ellen
\nJohnson Sirleaf from the United Nations Development Program
\n(UNDP).<\/p>\n
Sirleaf, who arrived from UN headquarters in New York to
\nattend the opening session of the Asia Africa Forum here,
\nyesterday highlighted the remarkable achievements of Asian states
\nand how they could probably be emulated in Africa.<\/p>\n
"Take cases like Japan and Indonesia 30 years ago and the
\nmiraculous developments they have achieved suggest that there are
\nmajor lessons of experience that Africa can benefit from," said
\nSirleaf who is the UNDP's African regional program director.<\/p>\n
"Those are rich experiences of Asia that Africa could use a
\nlot in changing its whole development pattern," she remarked.<\/p>\n
Earlier in a written message to the Forum which was read by
\nSirleaf, UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali asserted the
\nneed for initiatives, such as the Forum, to stimulate cooperation
\nbetween Africa and Asia.<\/p>\n
"Africa has much to learn from the development experience of
\nAsia," Boutros Ghali said.<\/p>\n
The Asia Africa Forum was opened by President Soeharto at the
\nState Palace in Jakarta on Monday and is being attended by some
\n100 senior officials from 43 African and 10 Asian countries.<\/p>\n
The five-day meeting of the Forum itself is taking place at
\nthe Merdeka building in the hilly town of Bandung, West Java,
\nsome 180-kilometers south of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Co-sponsored by Japan, the UNDP and the Global Coalition for
\nAfrica (GCA), the Forum is an outgrowth of the 1993 Tokyo
\nInternational Conference on African Development which gave a firm
\ncommitment in cooperating and assisting with Africa's
\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n
Lessons<\/p>\n
According to Sirleaf, the focus on a people oriented
\ndevelopment was a major step still lacking in African development
\nto date.<\/p>\n
She told The Jakarta Post that Asia's success lay in "the
\nemphasis of human resources development and also the fact that
\nthe government played a leadership role in forging an effective
\npartnership between the public and the private sector."<\/p>\n
She contended that Africa had put little emphasis on human
\ncapital in the past. "What we did was to use of expertise from
\noutside. All of this has not served Africa well."<\/p>\n
When asked by the Post on the source of these past failures
\nshe replied that they were results of the historical emphasis
\nthat followed colonialism.<\/p>\n
"Africa wanted to leap-frog into development, creating the
\nrole of government in an excessive way," she said.<\/p>\n
Former Minister of Environment, Emil Salim, said that
\nIndonesia proposes a self-propelling growth model which
\nemphasizes a community based approach.<\/p>\n
"These are projects at the village level working on areas such
\nas agriculture, food, security, public health and irrigation," he
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
But as a senior consultant for the GCA, Tesfaye Dinka,
\nillustrated, emulating the Asian miracle will be difficult since
\n"unlike the miracles of classical mythology, it comes about not
\nby divine intervention but as result of committed, long term and
\nsustained efforts based on broad popular support."<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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