S. Africa wants to strengthen relationship with RI

Veeramalla Anjaiah The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

South Africa's relations with Indonesia can be described as sound and excellent since both countries established diplomatic ties in 1994. Pretoria wants to strengthen these ties further to forge a new strategic partnership with Jakarta, says South Africa's Ambassador to Indonesia Giffiths Mandlenkosi Memela.

"Even long before our independence, relations between the African National Congress and Indonesia were strong. During our struggle against the apartheid regime, Indonesia played a key role in imposing UN sanctions against the South African government," Memela, who presented his credentials to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on March 16, told The Jakarta Post in an interview recently.

Last year, South Africa's Foreign Minister Nkosozana Dlamini Zuma visited Indonesia. During her visit, which helped rekindle the cordiality, cooperation and interaction between the two countries, Dlamini Zuma signed an important agreement to establish a joint commission on bilateral cooperation.

This new agreement is aimed at increasing bilateral trade and investment.

Despite the fact that South Africa and Indonesia, which are not only regional powers but also potential economic powerhouses of the African and Asian continents, maintain "excellent" relations at the political level, their economic ties do not live up to the potential of the countries.

For example, the value of bilateral trade was just US$488.57 million in 2004. Though it saw an impressive increase of 24.85 percent from $391.31 million in 2003, the trade was still small given Indonesia's 220 million people and a GDP of $760 billion. South Africa's population is 43 million with a GDP of $460 billion.

For many years, bilateral trade has been in favor of Indonesia.

South Africa mainly imports vegetable products, fats and oils, plastic and rubber, timber, pulp and paper, footwear, stone and plaster from Indonesia, and exports food items, rayon pulp and paper to the world's largest Muslim nation.

"That's why we want to pool our countries' resources to generate more capital and investment to boost economic cooperation. We can form joint ventures and invest in each other and in third countries," Memela said.

South Africa intends to improve its ties with Indonesia in the social and cultural spheres, as well as in people-to-people contacts.

"We would like to increase people-to-people contacts like cultural and academic exchanges. We want to enhance the awareness among Indonesian youths about South Africa and other African countries," Memela, a law school graduate who worked as South Africa's high commissioner from 1996 to 2000, said.

South Africa wants to form a strategic partnership with Indonesia.

"My main mission in Indonesia is to further strengthen the already existing sound relationship and foster a strategic partnership. Then we have to concentrate on improving economic contacts among the businesspeople from both the countries and also people-to-people cooperation," the 57-year-old diplomat said.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has concentrated on things like providing basic needs, building infrastructure, establishing democratic institutions and diplomatic relations with other countries.

"Now South Africa's priority is to deepen our ties with some selected important countries. Indonesia is one of them," Dlamini Zuma said during her visit to Jakarta.

That is why South African President Thabo Mbeki will be coming to Indonesia next week on a bilateral visit to give new life to existing relations between South Africa and Indonesia.

President Mbeki will attend the Asian-African Summit, which will be held in Jakarta from April 22 to April 23, as a cohost along with Indonesia.

While attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Phnom Penh 2002, President Mbeki, in his capacity as then-chair of the African Union (AU), proposed an exchange of views and experiences and called on ASEAN leaders to cooperate with Africa on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

In response to Mbeki's call, Indonesia proposed South Africa cosponsor an Asian-African Summit, in conjunction with the golden jubilee celebrations of the 1955 Bandung Conference.

Both countries agreed to host the summit with an aim at reviving the "Bandung Spirit" and establishing a new bridge between Asia and Africa.

Since then, South Africa and Indonesia have jointly organized four meetings -- the Asian-African Sub-Regional Organizations Conference (AASROC I) in July 2003 in Bandung; the AASROC Ministerial Working Group Meeting in March 2004 in Durban; AASROC II in August 2004 also in Durban; and a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in March 2005 in Jakarta -- to prepare for the Asian- African Summit.

In 1955, leaders from Asia and Africa met in Bandung to discuss ways and means by which the people of two continents could achieve fuller economic, cultural and political cooperation. They also envisioned a world order of independence, peace, justice and common prosperity.

The ANC sent a delegation to the Asian-African Conference, which inspired many liberation struggles against colonialism and strengthened solidarity among Asian and African nations.

The Bandung Conference's core principles -- solidarity. friendship and cooperation -- are still relevant and form the basis for resolving global issues of common concern and strengthening better relations among nations.

South Africa and Indonesia are jointly organizing the Asian- African Summit later this month in Jakarta to reinvigorate the "Bandung Spirit" and forge a new Asian-African strategic partnership.

"South Africa sees there is a need for fostering cooperation and establishing a strategic partnership between Asia and Africa in the spirit of South-South cooperation. That's why we took the initiative jointly with Indonesia to organize this summit," Memela said.

More than 100 countries and 56 heads of state/government from Asia and Africa are scheduled to take part in the summit in Jakarta, as well as attend celebrations to mark the golden jubilee of the 1955 Asian-African Conference in Bandung on April 24.

At the end of the summit, all the Asian and African leaders will launch a declaration on the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership.