Developed countries ready to finance Asian-African project
Developed countries ready to finance Asian-African project
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A number of European countries have expressed their readiness
to finance projects that may be agreed upon at the upcoming
Asian-African Summit, according to a senior diplomat.
Nana S. Sutresna, the President's special envoy, said that
Britain, France and even the European Union looked forward to
financing the projects -- if indeed any emerged.
"In principle they have agreed, but they are still waiting for
results of the summit," he told a seminar hosted by the Golkar
Party on Thursday.
Funding commitments from countries such as Britain and France
would strengthen earlier commitments by Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi, who had promised to bring the results of the
upcoming Asian-African Summit to a meeting of industrialized
countries in November.
Koizumi himself had confirmed his participation in the summit.
Leaders from 106 Asian and African countries -- including 58
heads of state/government -- will attend the two-day summit in
Jakarta next weekend.
In addition, the government also invited leaders from donor
countries such as the United States, Britain, France, and Germany
as observers at the summit.
At the summit Asia-Africa leaders are expected to agree on a
number of partnership projects to boost future cooperation
between the nations of the two continents.
Nana explained that funds from donor countries to finance the
partnership projects would be separate from the funding already
committed to individual countries.
The new funding, he said, would not reduce existing funding
commitments to developing countries in the two continents, and
therefore, Japan's funding to eradicate poverty in Africa through
the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TIDAC)
would remain in place.
Meanwhile, analyst Hadi Soesastro from the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies suggested that Asian African
countries be more independent of developed countries, including
from funding.
He suggested that Asian African leaders explore ways to raise
funds during the summit.
"Asian and African countries themselves must collect funds
from their own budgets to upgrade the partnership. We can't
simply rely on third countries,"
"The summit is a big project so it needs efforts to develop
its financial systems. We must make our own investments," he
said.
He also suggested that a permanent secretariat be established
to monitor the progress of projects agreed upon at the summit.