Asian-African summit to institutionalize partnership

Indonesia will host a major summit meeting of Asian and African nations in late April in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the historic Asia-Africa Conference. The Jakarta Post spoke to Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda to learn more about the significance of the summit meeting.

Question: What is the purpose of this new Asia-Africa Summit?

Answer: There is no single bridge connecting Asian and African nations compared with other regions like the countries in the Atlantic and the Pacific.

We thought it would be timely for the Asian and African continents to develop a new partnership. The main aim of the upcoming summit is to reinvigorate the Bandung Spirit and establish a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP).

The Bandung Spirit provides us strong bonds of solidarity, friendship and cooperation. Many have repeatedly said the Bandung Spirit is still relevant. The principles and ideals of the 1955 Bandung Conference constituted the seeds of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Moreover, the forthcoming summit will provide a good opportunity for us to show the world that Indonesia is rebounding. A new Indonesia has emerged from the reform process that began in 1998.

But is it the right time to host the summit given the recent disaster in Aceh and North Sumatra?

After the Dec. 26 tsunami tragedy, we considered two proposals. One was to postpone the April summit, the other to stick to the original schedule but with a scaled-down event.

The latter decision was taken after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited (Aceh) and found the emergency relief work going well.

Several countries like Japan also asked Indonesia to keep to the original schedule so as not to lose the momentum. We decided to go ahead with the original schedule.

How did the idea for the summit come about?

During the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in 2002, South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki was invited in his capacity as then-chair of the African Union. Mbeki proposed an exchange of views and experiences with Asia and called on ASEAN leaders to cooperate with Africa on NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa's Development).

ASEAN leaders responded positively. Indonesia came up with a practical response, namely Indonesia and South Africa co- sponsoring an Asia-Africa Summit.

We wanted to use the historical moment of the golden jubilee of the 1955 Bandung Conference to launch this NAASP.

South Africa agreed to Indonesia's proposal to co-host the summit in April 2005 in Jakarta. Since then, we have co-hosted three meetings -- the Asian-African Sub-Regional Organizations Conference (AASROC I) in July 2003 in Bandung; the AASROC Ministerial Working Group Meeting in March 2004 in Durban, South Africa; and AASROC II in August 2004 in Durban -- to prepare for the summit. How will it be different from the 1955 Bandung conference?

I would say this summit is not simply a commemorative event. We are going to organize two different but related events. One is the Asia-Africa Summit in Jakarta and the other is the commemoration of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung.

The Asia-Africa Summit is the first summit between Asia and Africa in 50 years. In 1965, there was an attempt to organize the second Asia-Africa Conference in Algiers but was canceled due to a coup d'etat and revolution in Algeria at that time.

Despite the 1955 Conference's 10 principles and very good joint communique, there was no follow up or any mechanism to implement those ideals after the Bandung Conference.

The summit is meant to institutionalize the partnership between the two continents.

We are proposing that there should be a summit (between Asian and African leaders) every three or four years and a foreign ministers' meeting every two years. We are trying not to be too ambitious; we are not proposing a summit every year like APEC and the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting). We are aiming at practical cooperation.

We already have existing individual cooperation. We intend to give new momentum to existing initiatives.

Why should Asian countries be interested in such intense cooperation with Africa?

Many used to think of Africa as a lost continent. For a long time, Africans suffered from so many conflicts, communicable diseases such as HIV and AIDS, and extreme poverty. But we have observed that Africa is changing. Many African countries are now able to solve their prolonged conflicts.

Look at Mozambique. It has suffered 30 years of war. Likewise Angola. But they solved their problems and Mozambique, for example, has been able to grow on an average of 8 to 10 percent during the past six to 10 years. In other words there is opportunity in investment, exports and other forms of economic cooperation.

Look at South Africa. They settled their political problems of apartheid. In the past 10 years, the South African economy has been able to grow steadily.

Look at Northern Africa, Tunisia, Algeria and even now Libya. Until a few years ago Libya was isolated. Now Libya is the darling of economic power houses in the West.

On a conceptual level Africa is also far ahead of Asia. It has the African Union. We in Asia are still struggling to establish a single regional organization. Africans have a human rights charter and a regional peacekeeping force to deal with conflicts.

We can learn from Africa in so many aspects and likewise Africans can also learn from Asia.

How do you think the more developed nations will see this initiative?

Japan is not a developing country but it has shown immense enthusiasm in participating in this initiative.

When we talk about a partnership between Asia and Africa we shouldn't think of it an exclusive process. We can cooperate with others; for example the G-8 (Group of Eight) countries. We are looking for an inclusive process. That's why we have invited developed countries and international organizations to the summit.

Is the NAASP initiative duplicating the Non-Aligned Movement and other organizations?

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a movement which focuses more on political cooperation and solidarity. NAM doesn't touch on (practical) economic cooperation. We also have the G-77 (Group of 77), a loose grouping which focuses on deliberations. Our idea is for more practical cooperation.

Asia-African countries are majority members of NAM and implicitly we will strengthen NAM.