Indonesia to help map Africa strategy

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will host a five-day Asia-Africa Forum aimed at establishing programs to facilitate African development by way of the Asian experience.

The activities of the forum will be part of the South-South development cooperation undertaken by the 111-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), over which Indonesia currently presides.

President Soeharto, the current NAM chairman, will open the forum at the State Palace on Monday while the meetings will take place in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday.

Some 100 senior officials from 53 countries, 43 African and 10 Asian, along with representatives from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and other international organizations are expected to attend the meeting.

The chief executive assistant of NAM, Nana Sutresna, explained yesterday that the forum plans to identify successful Asian development strategies which are applicable and relevant to Africa.

"We shall exchange views and ideas on the shape of development cooperation between African and Asian states," he said, adding that the forum would be an "exchange of experiences."

Central themes will be financing, human resources development, promotion of sustainable development, enhancement of agricultural productivity and the modalities of development cooperation between Asian and African countries.

This year's forum is a follow-up to the October 1993 Tokyo International Conference on African Development and the ensuing "Tokyo Declaration" that first called for an exchange of experiences between Asia and Africa.

Nana said Indonesia's selection as the venue for the meeting is recognition of Indonesia's efforts to promote South-South cooperation.

A representative from the UN Secretariat, M. Ikegama, said yesterday that the forum could be the start of more cooperation projects that could expand to Latin American countries. (mds)