Political will, stability crucial to African development

Political will, stability crucial to African development

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

BANDUNG (JP): Greater political commitment and stability are two crucial factors to ensure sustainable development in African states, officials from Asian and African states say.

After a three-day meeting here at the Merdeka Building, the Asia Africa Forum on Thursday evening yielded the Bandung Framework for Asia-Africa Cooperation which asserted that a conducive environment is a pre-requisite for development.

Sustainable development "must be a product of political commitment based on national consensus and must be inspired and led by a creative and dedicated national leadership," were the works of the communique issued at the end of the meeting.

The forum said development programs must be designed with strategic priorities on stability, development and equity.

The chairman of the Forum and executive assistant of the Non- Aligned Movement (NAM), Indonesia's Nana Sutresna, earlier stressed the importance of political stability as a precursor to acquiring development funding.

"The factor of political stability is vital for acquiring development loans," Nana said.

The Forum, opened by President Soeharto on Monday, was attended by officials from 43 African and 10 Asian countries.

The Forum was established as a follow up to the 1993 Tokyo International Conference on African Development which emphasized ways of sharing the Asian experience in the development of Africa.

When A.M. Noor, assistant minister for planning and development of Kenya, was asked about Africa's ability to sustain political stability, he assured them that the continent had come a long way in the democratization process.

"Almost now 50 percent of the African countries have gone multi-partisan," Noor told The Jakarta Post. "That wind is blowing all over Africa now. As democracy is taking shape, peace and stability will follow," he said.

Apart from stressing the importance of socio-political environments for development, the Forum also asserted the need for promoting development in human resources and institution building, economic and social infrastructure, agriculture and the restructuring of a more balanced economy.

The forum also views that the private sector should be encouraged to participate more in the development of Africa.

North

In his closing statement to the Forum, Nana underlined the importance of involving developed countries of the "North" in any cooperation project between the developing nations of the "South".

The Forum would like to see more concrete examples of the North's participation, such as contributions from Japan, he said.

"We realize that in the end, development funding, in addition to coming from domestic savings, also needs input from abroad," Nana told journalists.

He noted that delegates from developed countries such as the United States, France and Germany, who attended the Forum as observers, had not yet given any clear commitment to the results of the Forum.

Nonetheless he remained confident of their commitment to the future. "Development is becoming a rallying cry for all countries," he remarked.

The Forum's co-chairman, Japan's Yasushi Kurokouchi, said the developed countries are very interested in the activities of the Forum and pointed to the attendance of major donors as evidence.

He noted that even developed countries have been burdened by difficult economic times lately and thus they would like to contribute to development projects in the most efficient way.

Joseph Arapng'ok, a senior economist from Kenya, said that despite the importance of the North, a lot has already been achieved without them.

"You get the impression that you always need the North in order to do anything, but there are a lot of things that the South can do themselves," he told the Post.

Delegates from the Forum stayed in Bandung yesterday to visit various development projects in the area, such as a family planning project in Lembang and the plant of the state aircraft manufacturer IPTN. Most are heading back to their respective countries today.