Asian-African summit to institutionalize partnership

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.