Indonesia to help map Africa strategy

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)