Asia and Africa join forces in pursuing fair world

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Asian and African countries vowed on Wednesday to pursue a common view and collective action to ensure the fair and equal sharing out of advantages among nations in the world in the wake of globalization.

Underlining the weak bargaining position of most countries on the two continents in facing both political and economic challenges, the participants in the Asia Africa Sub-Regional Organizations Conference (AASROC) agreed to enhance cooperation among themselves.

"The conference noted with concern that despite the opportunities offered by globalization, countries in Asia and Africa continue to be marginalized," the co-chairs statement released on Wednesday said.

"In this regard, the Conference stressed that trade liberalization, including the current negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO), should directly address the development needs and objectives of developing countries," it said.

The statement wrapped up the two-day ministerial meeting of AASROC, the first preparatory meeting of the summit in 2005 also in Bandung. The second ministerial meting will be hosted by South Africa next year, when participating countries are expected to agree on a series of action plans for strategic cooperation.

Co-chaired by Indonesia and South Africa, the Conference expressed a new spirit by third world countries to stand on their own feet and demand the right to have more access to the world's wealth.

"AASROC can play a role in complementing various initiatives/mechanisms and promoting accelerated growth and prosperity in both Asia and Africa," the statement remarked.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said during a joint press conference after the conference that the two continents would be realistic in determining the areas of cooperation between them.

His South African counterpart Nkozana C. Dlamini Zuma added that the grouping was "aimed at doing something in the long run that will be of benefit to humanity".

The conference was officially closed on Wednesday with both co-chairs disclosing a plan to set up various working groups to further detail possible economic, social and security cooperation between the two continents.

In the statement, the participating countries also noted that the millennium goal of improving the welfare of third world countries remained just an ideal.

"There is therefore an urgency to further promote an enabling international environment and to bolster cooperation between Asia and Africa to ensure that these international goals in the interests of Asia and Africa are met," the statement said.

The participating countries in the conference also expressed concern over current unilateralist trends, saying that the United Nations should continue to play the central role in maintaining world peace and security.

"The Conference emphasized the importance of the multilateral approach in international relations and the need for countries to strictly abide by the principles of international law, in particular the UN charter," the final document said.

AASROC is aimed at restoring the spirit of the Asia-Africa Conference back in 1955, which formed the embryo of the Non- Aligned Movement.

Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose father, founding president Sukarno, was one of the Asia-Africa Conference initiators, said in her opening remarks on Tuesday that the spirit of the first meeting remained relevant in the era of globalization.