Asian, African summit agrees on fields of cooperation
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Asian-African Summit concluded on Saturday, with leaders adopting a new strategic partnership that will bind them to work together in addressing poverty and underdevelopment, the major problems plaguing the two continents.
Inspired by the Dec. 26 tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean, the leaders also adopted a joint statement on natural disasters which spells out their determination to establish an early warning system, a standby arrangement for disaster relief and emergency response, networks for information exchange, the establishment of research centers, and strategies to reduce the risk and impact of disasters.
Dubbed "the ticket to a brighter future" for Asian and African nations, the partnership highlights political solidarity, economic cooperation and socio-cultural relations between the states.
"Through this partnership, we will create in the years ahead a legacy of socioeconomic and cultural development for future generations of Asians and Africans," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the co-chair of the summit, told a press conference that summed up the two-day summit, the first since the Bandung meeting 50 years ago.
To make it operational, the Asian and African foreign ministers also adopted on Saturday a joint statement that spells out in greater detail the shape of the new partnership, including resolving debt issues, capital market cooperation, improving market access, striving to provide voluntary non-reciprocal market access to Asian-African Least Developed Countries.
In the political field, the countries said they wanted to see reform of the United Nations so as to uphold multilateralism and ensure greater participation by Asian and African countries in its decision-making process, and gave their support to the peaceful settlement of the Palestine question and lasting peace in the Middle East.
Socio-cultural cooperation will cover efforts to enhance interfaith dialog, advance gender equality, develop the role of the media and eradicate HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases.
The two continents account for over three quarters of the world's population, but have so far been struggling to fight poverty and lack of access to health care and education among their peoples.
Of 106 nations invited to the historic summit, only 89 were represented by their heads of state/government or ministers.
The leaders will formally sign the declaration on the strategic partnership on Sunday during the commemorative summit to mark the golden jubilee of the Bandung conference.
In order to keep their solidarity alive, the leaders agreed to hold a summit every four years, with the next one being hosted by South Africa, which also co-hosted the just-concluded summit.
In response to the strategic partnership, the United Kingdom, which chairs the G8 group of developed countries, said it was calling for more and better aid for Africa to promote greater opportunities and faster economic growth, fairer trade rules and debt relief.