Challenges of new strategic partnership for Asia-Africa<\/p>\n
Anak Agung Banyu Perwita, Bandung<\/p>\n
The values rooted in the Bandung Ten Principles (Dasa Sila
\nBandung) as the strategic output of the Asia-Africa Conference in
\n1955 continues to have a crucial and contextual meaning in
\nregional and global interactions of today. Cooperation between
\nAsian-African countries against colonialism remains relevant --
\neven more so -- to fight today's common "enemies" of economic,
\npolitical and social-cultural colonialism.<\/p>\n
In the context of changing international relations, Asian-
\nAfrican states must now deal with three major challenges, in the
\nfields of economic development, global peace and security --
\nespecially terrorism, and global political restructuring.<\/p>\n
In the field of economic development, for instance, the latest
\nstudy conducted by the World Bank has shown that Asia has and
\nwill become one of Africa's biggest trading partners. Africa's
\ntrade value to Asia alone makes up about 16 percent annually
\n(1999-2001) of Africa's US$130 billion annual exports.<\/p>\n
The World Bank report also concluded that Asia could be a
\nstrategic market diversification target. Assuming that average
\neconomic growth of Asian countries is 5 percent annually, then
\nthe consumption level of these Asian nations of various African
\ncommodities will also increase. Therefore, the possibilities for
\nenhancing trade interactions between these two continents will
\nalso increase in the future.<\/p>\n
In order to bolster trade and economic interaction among
\nAsian-African countries, there are at least two shared agendas
\nthat need to be addressed.<\/p>\n
First, Asian-African countries should strengthen their
\ninformation networks regarding trade and investment in an effort
\nto more comprehensively understand the market dimensions of the
\ntwo continents.<\/p>\n
Second, the institutional arrangements between the two
\ncontinents should also be strengthened as a means to reinforce
\nstrategic dialog between Asian-African nations and to raise new
\nawareness regarding business opportunities among Asian-African
\nbusiness people.<\/p>\n
However, high-cost economies, limited infrastructure, and
\ninadequate numbers of well-trained people as well as the
\n"complex" legal systems of many developing countries, remains a
\npredicament in increasing the trade and investment volume between
\nthe nations of these continents.<\/p>\n
In this context, the effort to increase South-South
\ncooperation framework is not just an option, but rather an
\nimperative for Asian-African countries in order to increase their
\nwelfare in the midst of growing competition among nation-states.
\nThis South-South cooperation should become the main driving force
\nof development solidarity for Asia and Africa in the
\nglobalization era.<\/p>\n
The demand for reform of the UN Security Council, especially
\ncoming from nations of the Non-Aligned Movement, will depend
\nheavily on the political will of developing countries to reach a
\nconsensus to establish a common position. In many cases, NAM has
\nproven to be "a house divided" in dealing with shared issues in
\nthe realm of multilateralism, including the UN.<\/p>\n
Looking at several developments above, the opportunities for
\ncrafting a new strategic partnership for Asia-Africa remains wide
\nopen. However, the increasing degree and intensity of interaction
\ndoesn't just depend on traditional government-to-government
\nrelations. The phenomenon of globalization with its
\nmultidimensional nature should be able to function as driving
\nforce for the creation of a more systematic and patterned
\nintersociety interactions (people to people relations) between
\nAsia and Africa.<\/p>\n
So far, the interactions between the societies of Asia and
\nAfrica have been relatively limited.<\/p>\n
In many cases, a weak state\/government, poverty as well as the
\nmounting cultures of violence, have served as breeding grounds
\nfor terrorism and other trans-national crimes. Therefore,
\nindividual groups and societies in these two continents can play
\na crucial role in the new strategic partnership for Asia-Africa,
\nincluding in the war against terrorism in Asia and Africa.<\/p>\n
This Asian-African interaction can also be categorized as a
\n"bilateral interregional relationship", hence the necessity to
\nincrease and enlarge the number of dialogs among groups in
\nvarious formal as well as informal meetings that should also come
\nfrom various groups of society in Asian-African nations
\nthemselves.<\/p>\n
In other words, societal groups in Asia and Africa as well as
\nvarious non-governmental organizations in their respective
\nsocieties, have to play their part as "agenda initiators" and
\neven as "agenda controllers" in the effort to increase the
\ninteraction amongst them while at the same time to complement the
\nformal interactions taking place at governmental\/state levels.<\/p>\n
This is in line with the statement by South African Deputy
\nMinister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad, who said that the
\nfoundation of the new partnership for Asia and Africa comprises
\nthree complementary levels: Governmental, sub-regional
\norganizational groups, and societies at large. In that form, this
\nkind of cooperation will lead to a strengthening of the
\n"regionalism through interregionalism" in the two continents.<\/p>\n
From the discussion above, we can see that a new strategic
\npartnership for Asia and Africa has many challenges and
\nopportunities. Globalization has provided alternative options in
\ndeveloping the degree and intensity of Asia-Africa relationships.
\nHowever, to optimize these new strategic options, a high level of
\npolitical commitment is still required.<\/p>\n
The failure of Asian-African countries to unite their
\neconomic, social and political interests will simply turn the
\ncooperation forums established so far into new "talk-shops" in
\ncontemporary interregional relations.<\/p>\n
The writer is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of
\nInternational Relations, Parahyangan Catholic University,
\nBandung.<\/p>",
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