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Asian-African Summit Conference Adopts Three Documents About Bandung Message, Strategic Partnership, and Declaration on Palestine

April 23, 2015 

 

Asian and African leaders attend the Jakarta Summit conference, April 21-22, 2015	Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (L-on stage) delivers her opening address. (Photo: AFP/Romeo Gacad) ———

 

Asian-African ministers agree upon three outcome documents

antaranews.com, April 23, 2015

All delegations at the Asian-African Ministerial Meeting (AAMM) came to an agreement over the three outcome documents of the Asian-African Conference (AAC), Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said.

She explained that the discussions on the Bandung Messages, Reinvigorating the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP), and the Declaration on Palestine were carried out smoothly in the ministerial meeting.

“The meeting went well. It was productive and constructive, and was held with the primary agenda of discussing NAASP, which is a very important political platform for leaders,” she stated here on Tuesday.

Marsudi added that in the ministerial meeting, all ministers had agreed upon the three documents in a short discussion as the review and finalization were discussed in the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM).

However, she admitted that the SOM discussion had been difficult and had also reached a deadlock as a few delegations did not agree with various sentences, or paragraphs, or the way they were worded.

The NAASP is vital as the visionary messages in the Bandung Messages, to strengthen Asian-African solidarity and cooperation, need to be implemented through a structured framework, which will be generated in the document.

However, the SOM finally adopted the three outcome documents of the AAC, having referred to the first draft that had been discussed in New York.

“The three outcome documents that have been agreed upon by the ministers will be presented to leaders during the Asian-African Summit,” Marsudi affirmed.

According to a representative of the Indonesian permanent mission in New York, Desra Percaya, the Bandung Messages consists of 41 points, including the establishment of Bandung as the human rights city, while NAASP comprises 32 points, and the Declaration on Palestine, 15 points.

Besides these three outcome documents, Percaya added, ministers from countries of the two continents also agreed to adopt documents on the eradication of transnational crime, terrorism, radicalism, the smuggling of drugs, and wildlife poaching.

The Asian-African Leaders Summit will be held at the Jakarta Convention Center on April 22 and 23.

 

Asian-African summit concludes with adoption of three documents

Xinhua, April 23, 2015

Indonesian President Joko Widodo Thursday declared close of the two-day Asian-African summit with the adoption of three important outcome documents.

"We have successfully adopted three important outcome documents: the Bandung Message, the Declaration on Re-invigorating the New Asian African Strategic Partnership and the Declaration on Palestine," said Joko at the closing ceremony of the summit.

Joko said that leaders and delegates from Asian and African countries worked hard to produce concrete steps in strengthening and advancing a more peaceful and fair world order, in working towards the achievement of mutually-beneficial cooperation, in bridging development gaps, in realizing the independence of Palestine, and in ensuring the financial availability for infrastructure development among others through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Co-chairman of the summit, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, described the summit as one of the largest intergovernmental forums outside the framework of the United Nations, participated by Asian and African countries as well as a number of observers.

"We have agreed to re-invigorate the core ideas of the South- South movement, namely prosperity, solidarity and stability of the Asian and African nations," said Mugabe.

The two-day summit under the theme "Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity," is part of this year's Asian-African Conference events which drew leaders and delegates from some 100 Asian and African nations, 15 observer countries and 17 international organizations.

 

Asian, African nations challenge 'obsolete' world order

JAKARTA | By Eveline Danubrata and Charlotte Greenfield

Wed Apr 22, 2015 4:23am EDT

JAKARTA (Reuters) -

Leaders of Asian and African nations called on Wednesday for a new global order that is open to emerging economic powers and leaves the "obsolete ideas" of Bretton Woods institutions in the past.

Their calls came at the opening of a meeting of Asian and African nations in Jakarta to mark the 60th anniversary of a conference that made a developing-world stand against colonialism and led to the Cold War era's non-aligned movement.

Among the leaders listening were Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who were expected to meet on the sidelines of the conference, the latest sign of a thaw in relations between the Asian rivals.

Sino-Japanese ties have chilled in recent years due to feuds over the two neighbors' wartime past, as well as territorial rows and regional rivalry. Bilateral talks in Jakarta on Wednesday could promote a cautious rapprochement that began when Abe and Xi met at a summit in Beijing late last year.

Abe, in an apparent reference to China's growing military assertiveness, told the conference that the use of force by the "mightier" should never go unchecked.

The Japanese prime minister also said Japan had pledged, "with feelings of deep remorse over the past war", to adhere to principles such as refraining from acts of aggression and settling international disputed by peaceful means.

It was not immediately clear if the remarks would satisfy China's desire for Japan to acknowledge its wartime past, but a Japanese official told Reuters Abe and Xi would meet.

Xi had earlier told the conference that "a new type of international relations" was needed to encourage cooperation between Asian and African nations, and said the developed world had an obligation to support the rest with no political strings attached, the Xinhua news agency said.

NEW WORLD ORDER

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the conference host, said those who still insisted that global economic problems could only be solved through the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank were clinging to "obsolete ideas".

"There needs to be change," he said. "It's imperative that we build a new international economic order that is open to new emerging economic powers."

The IMF and World Bank were at the center of the post-World War Two monetary order created by the United States and Europe at the Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire in 1944.

Widodo made no mention of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that is seen as a competitor to the Western-dominated World Bank and Asian Development Bank, but Indonesia is one of nearly 60 countries that have offered to be founding members of the AIIB.

The United States and Japan have not thrown their support behind the bank, which is viewed as a threat to U.S. efforts to extend its influence in the Asia-Pacific region and balance China's growing financial clout.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told the conference that Asian and African countries "should no longer be consigned to the role of exporters of primary goods and importers of finished goods".

He called it a "role that has historically been assigned to us by the colonial powers and starting from the days of colonialism".

Indonesia invited heads of state and government from 109 Asian and African countries, but according to a conference official, 21 leaders turned up, which commentators have said shows the group is no longer relevant.

The world order has changed dramatically since nearly 30 heads of state gathered in 1955 in the Indonesian town of Bandung to discuss security and economic development away from global powers embroiled in the Cold War.

Together they accounted for less than a quarter of global economic output at that time, but today they contribute to more than half of the world economy. Many of the Bandung countries, such as China and India, are now themselves at top tables like the Group of 20 and wield significant economic power.

Widodo said the group may be meeting in a changed world but still needed to stand together against the domination of "a certain group of countries" to avoid unfairness and global imbalances.

(Writing by John Chalmers; Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor and Nicholas Owen; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alex Richardson)

 

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