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.