Voice of the South must be strengthened: President Mbeki

Voice of the South must be strengthened: President Mbeki

Indonesia and South Africa jointly hosted the Asian-African
Summit from April 22 to April 23. It was agreed at the summit
that South Africa would host the next summit.

South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki along with
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono played a key role
in the success of the summit, which was attended by 89 countries.

President Mbeki, an independent and original thinker who
claims he was born into the struggle, became president of South
Africa when the world's freedom icon Nelson Mandela stepped down
in 1999.

Despite his busy schedule as a co-host, the 63-year-old Mbeki
gave an exclusive interview to The Jakarta Post's Kornelius Purba
and Veeramalla Anjaiah on the summit and its outcomes. The
following is an excerpt from the interview:

Question: Has the Asian-African Summit met your expectations?
What were your expectations in terms of results when you came
here to co-host the summit?

Answer: It certainly has. I think it (the outcome) has met
more than our expectations. It is very important to note that
here you have 89 countries. It means 60 more countries than those
that attended the 1955 Bandung Conference. The big attendance was
very important.

It indicated the interest among the countries of Asia and
Africa in terms of cooperation and also the level of
participation: many heads of state and many heads of government.

From this point of view, indeed, I think it has met more than
our expectations.

Besides passing resolutions, we must also agree on the
mechanism to follow up those resolutions and to take decisions
about when the ministerial meeting must take place, when the
heads of state/government must take place, the working group's
meeting in between and so on.

So, I am quite convinced that what has happened here ... will
make an impact on the rest of the world, in particular in the
context of the process of globalization.

The process of globalization means a process of greater
integration of the world. It means, to some extent, a reduction
of the capacity, possibly, of the countries of the South to take
their own sovereign decisions. Because we are so interlinked with
the rest of the world.

The experience of Indonesia and other Southeast Asian
countries during the financial crisis in 1997 and 1998
demonstrated the impact of globalization. So, it is very
important that the voice of the South in the context of the
process of globalization must be strengthened.

And this summit has brought the countries of Asia and Africa
very close together. And it can be possible to have an African-
Asian united voice to make an impact in terms of this process of
globalization.

I think, from all these points of view, the conference quite
succeeded, better than our expectations.

What lies in store for the future of the summit, now that we
have the strategic partnership in place? Do you endorse the plan
to hold a more regular summit and interaction between countries?

Certainly, yes. We have agreed at the summit that there should
be regular meetings: every four years for the heads of
state/government -- the summit level -- two years for the
ministerial and business meetings and so on. But it is also
important to see what happens in between.

As an indication of our seriousness in terms of
implementation, the foreign ministers of the co-hosts are meeting
in Jakarta on Monday to follow up on the summit decisions. We
don't want to postpone, or say let's meet in six months time to
pursue this. Let's start immediately, just a day after (the
summit). This is the approach.

Is there a role for non-Asian -African countries to play in
this strategic partnership, say regarding the financing of the
programs?

Sure. We are not saying that the cooperation between Asia and
Africa (must) exclude the cooperation with other people.

We want to say that we are part of a wider world. For
instance, if you take the matter of the Millennium Development
Goals, everybody in the world made a commitment about those
goals. So, we must say to the developed world, we are very ready
and willing to work with you in partnership to address those
Millennium Development Goals.

We are not doing something exclusive. We are not cutting
ourselves off from the rest of the world. But it is very
important that we ourselves in Asia and Africa must say there are
things we can do among ourselves in addition to whatever support
we might get from the rest of the world.

Do you think the Asian-African Summit, given the immense
diversity of its members, can be turned into a single force
speaking with one voice in the United Nations and other forums,
including, for example, in the WTO?

Absolutely, yes. If you mention the matter of the WTO (World
Trade Organization), that illustrates what is possible. You
remember when the WTO met in Cancun in Mexico, indeed, it was the
countries of the South -- Asian, African and Latin American
countries -- which were brought together under the group called
G-20. It was that group that brought all the developing countries
together and said: "There are certain challenges we face as
developing countries with regard to the WTO process. Let's have a
united voice of the developing countries."

So, this united voice is certainly possible and necessary. And
necessary for the developing countries to be able to speak with
one voice. If you speak as individual countries (the voice) of
the South will be weak. And none of us will be able to win our
battle just fighting alone.

But when you bring these voices together, as President
Yudhoyono (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) said, quite correctly, the
people who are here represent 4.6 billion people out of the 6
billion population of the world. That's a lot of people, an
overwhelming majority, which has common problems -- problems of
poverty, problems of underdevelopment, challenges of access to
affordable medicine and drugs. These are the common problems of
all the countries of the South. We have to speak with one voice.

We are the weaker party, less wealthy and not as developed as
the other developed countries, in all respects. Therefore, one of
the things that would ensure our voice is being heard, would be
for us to act together.