Challenges of new strategic partnership for Asia-Africa

Challenges of new strategic partnership for Asia-Africa

Anak Agung Banyu Perwita, Bandung

The values rooted in the Bandung Ten Principles (Dasa Sila
Bandung) as the strategic output of the Asia-Africa Conference in
1955 continues to have a crucial and contextual meaning in
regional and global interactions of today. Cooperation between
Asian-African countries against colonialism remains relevant --
even more so -- to fight today's common "enemies" of economic,
political and social-cultural colonialism.

In the context of changing international relations, Asian-
African states must now deal with three major challenges, in the
fields of economic development, global peace and security --
especially terrorism, and global political restructuring.

In the field of economic development, for instance, the latest
study conducted by the World Bank has shown that Asia has and
will become one of Africa's biggest trading partners. Africa's
trade value to Asia alone makes up about 16 percent annually
(1999-2001) of Africa's US$130 billion annual exports.

The World Bank report also concluded that Asia could be a
strategic market diversification target. Assuming that average
economic growth of Asian countries is 5 percent annually, then
the consumption level of these Asian nations of various African
commodities will also increase. Therefore, the possibilities for
enhancing trade interactions between these two continents will
also increase in the future.

In order to bolster trade and economic interaction among
Asian-African countries, there are at least two shared agendas
that need to be addressed.

First, Asian-African countries should strengthen their
information networks regarding trade and investment in an effort
to more comprehensively understand the market dimensions of the
two continents.

Second, the institutional arrangements between the two
continents should also be strengthened as a means to reinforce
strategic dialog between Asian-African nations and to raise new
awareness regarding business opportunities among Asian-African
business people.

However, high-cost economies, limited infrastructure, and
inadequate numbers of well-trained people as well as the
"complex" legal systems of many developing countries, remains a
predicament in increasing the trade and investment volume between
the nations of these continents.

In this context, the effort to increase South-South
cooperation framework is not just an option, but rather an
imperative for Asian-African countries in order to increase their
welfare in the midst of growing competition among nation-states.
This South-South cooperation should become the main driving force
of development solidarity for Asia and Africa in the
globalization era.

The demand for reform of the UN Security Council, especially
coming from nations of the Non-Aligned Movement, will depend
heavily on the political will of developing countries to reach a
consensus to establish a common position. In many cases, NAM has
proven to be "a house divided" in dealing with shared issues in
the realm of multilateralism, including the UN.

Looking at several developments above, the opportunities for
crafting a new strategic partnership for Asia-Africa remains wide
open. However, the increasing degree and intensity of interaction
doesn't just depend on traditional government-to-government
relations. The phenomenon of globalization with its
multidimensional nature should be able to function as driving
force for the creation of a more systematic and patterned
intersociety interactions (people to people relations) between
Asia and Africa.

So far, the interactions between the societies of Asia and
Africa have been relatively limited.

In many cases, a weak state/government, poverty as well as the
mounting cultures of violence, have served as breeding grounds
for terrorism and other trans-national crimes. Therefore,
individual groups and societies in these two continents can play
a crucial role in the new strategic partnership for Asia-Africa,
including in the war against terrorism in Asia and Africa.

This Asian-African interaction can also be categorized as a
"bilateral interregional relationship", hence the necessity to
increase and enlarge the number of dialogs among groups in
various formal as well as informal meetings that should also come
from various groups of society in Asian-African nations
themselves.

In other words, societal groups in Asia and Africa as well as
various non-governmental organizations in their respective
societies, have to play their part as "agenda initiators" and
even as "agenda controllers" in the effort to increase the
interaction amongst them while at the same time to complement the
formal interactions taking place at governmental/state levels.

This is in line with the statement by South African Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad, who said that the
foundation of the new partnership for Asia and Africa comprises
three complementary levels: Governmental, sub-regional
organizational groups, and societies at large. In that form, this
kind of cooperation will lead to a strengthening of the
"regionalism through interregionalism" in the two continents.

From the discussion above, we can see that a new strategic
partnership for Asia and Africa has many challenges and
opportunities. Globalization has provided alternative options in
developing the degree and intensity of Asia-Africa relationships.
However, to optimize these new strategic options, a high level of
political commitment is still required.

The failure of Asian-African countries to unite their
economic, social and political interests will simply turn the
cooperation forums established so far into new "talk-shops" in
contemporary interregional relations.

The writer is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of
International Relations, Parahyangan Catholic University,
Bandung.