Asian, African summit agrees on fields of cooperation

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.