South Africa hopes Asia-Africa summit will boost economic ties

South Africa hopes Asia-Africa summit will boost economic ties

Agence France-Presse, Cape Town, South Africa

South Africa hopes that the world's poorest continent will emerge
with stronger economic ties with Asia after a summit in Indonesia
next week, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said on Thursday.

"It is expected that this conference will launch the new
Africa-Asia strategic initiative," Pahad told a news conference
in Cape Town.

"Following a meeting in South Africa last year, major programs
were identified for Asian-African cooperation, especially
economic cooperation, cultural cooperation, but mainly economic
cooperation, and that is why it's called a strategic new
initiative for Africa and Asia," he said.

South African President Thabo Mbeki is due to leave on
Saturday for the Middle East and ultimately travel on to
Indonesia for the summit. Over 50 heads of state are expected to
converge on Jakarta and the nearby city of Bandung from April 22
to 24 for the gathering and golden jubilee celebrations of the
1955 Asia-Africa Conference.

Pahad said the South-South cooperation was "vital in this
globalized world," adding that the summit "will give major
leaders of Africa and Asia an opportunity to exchange views and
see whether we can begin the process of getting a ... consensus
on many issues, including the (UN) secretary general's new report
and his proposals on restructuring" the world body.

India, Brazil and South Africa -- three main democracies of
the developing world -- have set up a grouping to cooperate on
trade and political issues and are considering establishing an
ambitious South-South economic trade bloc with a market of 1.2
billion people.