Indonesia to invite donor countries to attend AAS

Indonesia to invite donor countries to attend AAS

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Indonesia will invite a number of heads of government of the
world's major donors countries to attend the upcoming Asian-
African Summit (AAS), the ministry of foreign affairs said on
Friday.

The donor countries that have been invited to the summit
include the United States, Britain, France, Germany and
Switzerland.

The ministry's director for African affairs Bali Moniaga said
that the invitations were signed by President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono would be sent next week.

"We will invite them as observers to attend the Asian-African
Summit in Jakarta because we don't want the summit being
exclusively for the Asian and African (countries). We must
cooperate with the international community, particularly
developed nations," he said.

"What we want to say is that we need support from all parties.
We want the donor countries to support our programs," Bali said.

He said that the idea to invite the heads of the developed
countries came from Indonesia and South Africa, the hosts of the
summit.

"The plans which will be made by the Asian and African leaders
at the summit, of course, cannot be carried out without the
support and the involvement of the international community," he
admitted.

The summit, believed to be one of the biggest meetings of this
century involving 105 member countries in Asia and Africa, will
be held from April 22 to April 23 in Jakarta.

Some 70 heads of the states/governments of the two continents
are expected to attend the summit. The organizers have also
invited 21 international organizations and 18 sub-regional
organizations.

In addition, said Bali, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi had also expressed his readiness to convey the results of
the summit to a meeting of industrialized countries.

"The Prime Minister has been ready to bring the aspirations of
the Asian-African countries to be discussed at the upcoming G-8
meeting," he elucidated.

Bali also explained that some donor countries had actively
participated since the Asian-African Sub-Regional Organizations
Conference (AASROC) held in July 2003 in Bandung.

The first AASROC, aimed to revive the "Spirit of Bandung" (the
original meeting locale 50 years ago) between the two continents,
was attended by delegates from 36 countries and 22 sub-regional
international organizations.

The second conference was held in Durban, South Africa, last
year and attended by representatives of 10 countries and 6
organizations with "observer" status.

Senior officials of the two continents will gather in Jakarta
from March 30 to March 31 to prepare the ground for the summit.

At the Bandung conference in 1955, 29 country delegations from
the two continents were present.

The delegation of the 25 members of the Non-Alignment Movement
from other continents are also expected to attend the golden
jubilee celebrations of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in
Bandung, West Java, on April 24.