South Africa wants to host next AAS

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The South African government has expressed its readiness to host the next Asian-African Summit expected to be held some time in 2009, a senior official at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, the ministry's secretary-general, said that the decision would be made by the heads of state/government of the two continents during the Asian-African Summit (AAS), which will be held from April 22 to April 23 in Jakarta.

"South Africa has stated its wish to be the next host of the summit and we hope the Asian and African leaders will take a decision about it during the summit here," he told The Jakarta Post.

In an attempt to foster closer cooperation between the two continents, the leaders of Asian and African countries are scheduled to meet every four years, while ministerial level meetings will be held every two years.

Indonesia and South Africa are the initiators of this month's summit, which is believed to be the one of the world's largest meetings of this century, bringing together some 106 countries.

This is the first summit meeting since the original Asia- Africa Conference, which was held in April 1955 in Bandung, West Java.

Sudjadnan, who is also the head of the national organizing committee for the Asian-African Summit, added that the success of the summit would give a boost to Indonesia's image on the international arena.

"It's a big challenge to organize this gigantic summit amid the current unconducive climate in our country, including the financial difficulties we face and the unexpected tsunami catastrophe. We were actually quite pessimistic about the responses from Asian and African leaders after the Dec. 26 tsunami," he said.

The deadly tsunami disaster hit the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26. Indonesia's northern Aceh province and North Sumatra were worst hit, with more than 230,000 people killed.

"After the tsunami, our concentration on holding the summit was disrupted by the one-day tsunami international summit, which a number of world leaders attended," he said.

However, Sudjadnan said it was Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who asked the Indonesian government to press ahead with the summit as per the original schedule in order not to lose momentum.

This "Japan factor", according to Sudjadnan, had rekindled the spirit of the national organizing committee to work all out to bring the summit to fruition.

"Now, with some 56 heads of states having confirmed their attendance at the summit, we can be more confident that Indonesia still counts for something in the international arena," he said.

Sudjadnan said that the government was financing the summit out of its own resources.

"The funds are from the state budget. Japan has actually offering to help finance the summit but we have not yet responded," he said.

State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra earlier said that the government had allocated some Rp 206 billion (US$22 million) to fund the summit.

The money will be spent on building infrastructure, including a toll road linking Jakarta and Bandung, the expansion of Bandung's Hussein Sastranegara Airport and the renovation of the Independence Building where the jubilee celebrations of the original Asia-Africa conference will be held.

The money will also be used to provide accommodation for summit participants and buy 60 Toyota Camry luxury sedans to transport them.

Sudjadnan said that the government would also provide extra security for the summit.

"Over 19,000 members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police will be deployed to provide security," he said.