Pakistan fully Supports: Asian-African Summit for equal benefits of Globalization
By Raza Mumtaz - Pakistan Times Special Correspondent

JAKARTA (Indonesia): The Asian-African Summit concluded here Saturday with a call for economic cooperation among regional countries for speedy development.

It also affirmed commitment to pursuance of common action to ensure equitable sharing of the benefits of globalization, while also expressing a shared determination on conflict prevention and peaceful dispute resolution.

The leaders of 106 countries representing three quarters of humanity declared the establishment of a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) as a framework to build a bridge between Asia and Africa covering three broad areas of political solidarity, economic cooperation, and socio-cultural relations.

"The strategic partnership provides a momentum in achieving peace, prosperity and progress," said a declaration issued at the conclusion of the Summit.

Asian and African leaders made ambitious promises of unity as they wrapped up a summit in Jakarta that was more of a showcase for bitter disputes that still divide people on the two continents.

Heads of state and senior officials from almost 100 countries representing two thirds of the world's population endorsed a strategic partnership aimed at breathing new life into an half-century alliance.

Closing the two-day summit, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told delegates the agreement marked a "milestone" in the history of an Asian and African movement that began with a similar summit 50 years ago.

Principle of Self-determination

The leaders expressed their determination to prevent conflict and resolve disputes by peaceful means and endeavor to explore innovative mechanisms for confidence building and dispute resolution as well as for post- conflict peace-building.

The Summit also reaffirmed their commitment to the principle of self-determination as set forth in the Final Communiqué of the 1955 Bandung Conference and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

The leaders, including Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, reiterated their common commitment over two days of the Summit for charting a course of cooperation towards a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership.

"We emphasize the importance of multilateral approaches to international relations and the need for countries to strictly abide by the principles of international law, in particular the Charter of the United Nations.

Multilateralism

"As Asia and Africa represent the majority in the community of nations, we reaffirm the need to support and strengthen multilateralism in order to address global issues, including reforming multilateral institutions," said the declaration.

The Summit, one of the largest international gatherings outside the UN forum, underlined the importance of dialogue among civilizations to promote a culture of peace, tolerance and respect for religious, cultural, language and racial diversities as well as gender equality.

"We acknowledge the positive development of intra-regional/sub-regional integration in both continents. Nevertheless, continent-wide inter-regional cooperation among the two continents needs to be developed.

"We are convinced that cooperation between sub-regional organizations, through sharing experiences and best practices, can propel growth and sustainable development."

Utilizing the advantages

The Summit also underscored the importance of bringing the regions closer together by utilizing the advantages derived from the commonalities and diversity of, as well as the new and encouraging developments in, both regions.

"We emphasize both the collective responsibilities and the important role of all stakeholders in exploring innovative and concrete ways and means to strengthen
cooperation between Asia and Africa."

The declaration stressed that poverty and under-development, gender mainstreaming, communicable diseases, environmental degradation, natural disasters, drought and desertification, digital divide, inequitable market access, and foreign debt, remain as issues of common concern which call for closer cooperation and collective action.●