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Home >About > The New Asian African Strategic Partnership

Renewed Strength for Asian-African Nations

The main objective of the Summit was to reinvigorate the spirit of the 1955 Bandung Conference, namely to promote solidarity and cooperation among the countries of Asia and Africa. At the 1955 Bandung Conference there were 29 participants. By contrast, at the 2005 Summit there were 106 participants. This illustrates just how far we have come in these past 50 years in the process of decolonization and the role that the Asian African countries play in world’s politics today. Commemorative activities surrounding the 2005 Summit included a re-enactment of the 1955 historic walk by the heads of the states and tree planting at a designated “Asia-Africa Forest” symbolizing closer cooperation amongst Asian and African nations.

It is interesting to note that these 106 countries constitute about 73 per cent of the world’s population. There fore, it was indeed a very representative forum. The co-host for historic event were Indonesia and South Africa. The 2005 Summit saw 89 Asian African countries represented by Head of State, head of Government, Vice presidents, and Special Envoys. Ten regional and Sub Regional organizations from 20 countries and 11 international organizations also witnessed this historic Summit. The number of delegates registered at the Summit was 1,978. All these numbers clearly reflect.

Since the 1955 Bandung Conference, Asian and African countries have attained significant political advances. They have successfully combated the plague of colonialism and consistently fought racism. A milestone was the abolition of apartheid in South Africa, and the leaders reaffirmed their determination to eradicate racism and all forms of discrimination.

Touching on present conditions in Asia Africa, the leaders admitted that they had to be active in pursuing a common view and collective actions to ensure the fair sharing of the benefits af globalization. They stressed the importance of International dialogue to promote a culture of place, tolerance, and respect for religious, cultural, linguistic, and racial diversity as well as gender impartiality.

The leaders envisioned an Asian –African region at peace with itself and with the world at large, working together as a concert of nations in harmony, non exclusively, bonded in dynamic partnership, and conscious of historical ties and cultural heritage.

The determination to hold an Asian-African Summit was not only aimed at reflecting the continued relevance of the 1955 Ten Principles of Bandung on the Promotion of World Peace and Cooperation, but also in strengthening and renewing the spirit of the nations of Asia and Africa revitalizing South-South Cooperation.

The world not only witnessed the pledge of Asian African leaders to build a new era of inter-regional partnership, but also witnessed a series of important bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Summit. The Summit also provided international leaders with the opportunity to commemorate the 1955 meeting in Bandung and reiterate their commitment to group’s core principles of solidarity, friendship, and cooperation. With an emphasis on multilateralism in addressing global issues and building upon existing initiatives, the Summit focused on developing political links, economic growth and socio-cultural.

The New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) Reviving the spirit of Asian-African Solidarity and Cooperation

Indonesia successfully hosted the 50th commemoration of the Asian-African Summit on April 22-24 in Jakarta and Bandung, in conjunction with the Commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Asian-African Conference of 1955. The spirit of Bandung, as preserved in the Final Communique of the 1955 Asian-African Conference, was revived and plans were made for future cooperation between the two continents, leading to a New Asian African Strategic Planning (NAASP). Participants were convinced that the spirit of Bandung essentially solidarity, friendship, and cooperation- continued to be solid, relevant, and effective foundation for nurturing better relations among Asian and African countries and for resolving global issues of common concern.

The intention to rekindle the spirit of cooperation was hammered out in a document agreed upon during the Asian-African summit in Jakarta on April 22-23, but officially launched in Bandung on April 24 through the formal signing of the New Asian-African Strategic Planning (NAASP) by the summit’s co-hosts, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and South African President Thabo Mbeki. This was a broad visionary document that was intended to serve as a guide to the countries of Asia and Africa in attaining their goals. The Plan of Action covered three broad areas of cooperation: political solidarity, economic cooperation, socio-cultural relations. The NAASP marked the beginning of a common endeavour of the countries of Asia and Africa for greater freedom, peace, and progress. It was an accord aimed at strengthening multilateralism, achieving economic growth by breaking down existing barriers, promoting global peace and security, and pursuing a path of sustainable growth between the two regions. The leaders also addressed poverty eradication, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and the development of a tsunami early warning system.

The declaration of the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership serves as a blueprint for future collaboration between the two continents. The partnership will blind them in working together in addressing poverty and underdevelopment, the two major problems plaguing the continents of Asia and Africa.

To make the NAASP operational, on the closing day Asian and African foreign ministers also adopted a joint statement spelling out in greater detail the shape of the new partnership. This included resolving debt issues, capital market cooperation, improving market access to Asia-African Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
The NAASP faces many challenges, while at the same time also offering many important opportunities. The mixture of challenges and opportunities stems from the effects of changing international system, and the increasing complexities and intricacies of regional interactions. The various impacts of globalization have also provided alternative options for developing degree and intensity of interaction between Asian and African countries.

The NAASP is an ambitious undertaking. The challenge remains in translating such inter-regional collaboration into concrete practical programmes and projects with real impact on the lives of ordinary people. If political will exists to ensure that this occurs, the there is every chances of success.

Declaration On The New Asian-African Strategic Partnership

We, the Leaders of Asian and African countries, have gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia on 22-23 April 2005 for the Asian-African Summit to reinvigorate the Spirit of Bandung as enshrined in the Final Communiqué of the 1955 Asian-African Conference and to chart the future cooperation between our two continents towards a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP).
We reiterate our conviction that the Spirit of Bandung, the core principles of which are solidarity, friendship and cooperation, continues to be a solid, relevant and effective foundation for fostering better relations among Asian and African countries and resolving global issues of common concern. The 1955 Bandung Conference remains as a beacon in guiding the future progress of Asia and Africa.
We note with satisfaction that since the 1955 Conference, Asian and African countries have attained significant political advances. We have successfully combated the scourge of colonialism and consistently fought racism. In particular, the abolishment of apartheid represents a milestone in Asian-African cooperation and we reaffirm our continued determination to eradicate racism and all forms of discrimination. As a result of our efforts over the last fifty years, we are all independent, sovereign and equal nations striving for the promotion of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. However, having made these political gains, we are concerned that we have not yet attained commensurate progress in the social and economic spheres. We recognize the need to continuously strengthen the process of nation and state-building, as well as social integration.
We remain committed 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. In particular, we express our abhorrence that, fifty years since the 1955 Bandung Conference, the Palestinian people remain deprived of their right to independence. We remain steadfast in our support for the Palestinian people and the creation of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state, in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions.
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. 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.
We recognize that the current global situation and the prevailing conditions in Asia and Africa necessitate the need to actively pursue a common view and collective action to ensure the equitable sharing of the benefits of globalization. We are determined to meet the internationally agreed targets and goals aimed at poverty eradication, development and growth, and underline the necessity for all parties to honour their commitments in this regard. We emphasize the importance of enhancing cooperation with all regions.
We underline 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.
We underline 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.
In this regard, we acknowledge the importance of complementing and building upon existing initiatives that link the two continents, inter alia Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), China-Africa Cooperation Forum (CACF), India-Africa Cooperation, Indonesia-Brunei Darussalam sponsored Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation, Vietnam-Africa Forum, and the Smart Partnership Initiative and the Langkawi International Dialogue. We stress the importance of streamlining and aligning existing initiatives for coherence and maximum benefit and to avoid duplication.
We acknowledge the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as the African Union’s programme for poverty eradication, socio-economic development and growth and accept it as the framework for engagement with Africa. We express our support for the implementation of NEPAD.
We underscore the urgency of promoting economic development in the Asian and African regions, as stipulated in the 1955 Bandung Conference. We stress 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 our closer cooperation and collective action.

The NAASP shall emphasize the need to promote practical cooperation between the two continents in areas such as trade, industry, investment, finance, tourism, information and communication technology, energy, health, transportation, agriculture, water resources and fisheries.
The NAASP shall also address issues of common concern such as, armed conflict, weapons of mass destruction, transnational organized crimes and terrorism, which are fundamental to ensuring peace, stability, and security.
We are determined 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 NAASP shall promote human resource development, enhanced capacity building and technical cooperation in order to create an enabling environment for the betterment of the regions.
We resolve that the sustainability of the NAASP shall be conducted through three tiers of interaction: an intergovernmental forum; sub-regional organizations; and people-to-people interaction, particularly business, academia, and civil society.
We are determined to develop an institutionalized process of the NAASP through convening: a Summit of Heads of State/Government every four years; a Ministerial Meeting of Foreign Ministers every two years; and Sectoral Ministerial and other Technical Meetings when deemed necessary. A Business Summit in conjunction with the Summit of Heads of State/Government will be held every four years.
We pledge to our peoples our joint determination and commitment to bringing the NAASP into reality by implementing concrete actions for the benefit and prosperity of our peoples.
Concluded in Bandung, Indonesia, on 24 April 2005, in conjunction with the Commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Asian-African Conference of 1955.

Joint Leaders Statement On Tsunami, Earthquake and Natural Disasters

We, the Head of State/Government of Asian and African countries, gathered in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 22 to 23 April 2005, expressed our profound grief at the loss of lives and livelihoods caused by earthquake and tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004.
We are cognizant that the earthquake and tsunami disaster is a strong reminder that our two continents are bound together, in that the impact of the devastation was jointly felt by the peoples on both continents.
We note that this natural catastrophe has generated an unprecedented scale of international response, assistance and empathy. In this regard, we commended the leading role of affected counties and the valuable contributions of the international community, including the Asian-African countries, in addressing the recent earthquake and tsunami disaster by collectively assisting in emergency relief efforts, as well as in reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts.
We pledge to encourage the continued development of appropriate measures pertinent to disaster reduction, mitigation and management, which will be supportive of the outcome of the Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on the Aftermath of the Earthquake and Tsunami held in Jakarta on 6 January 2005.
We also took note of the outcomes of various initiatives to address tsunami and other natural disasters, inter alia the World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Kobe; the Ministerial Meeting on Regional Cooperation on Tsunami Early Earning Arrangements held in Phuket; the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction of the Third African Union (AU) Summit held in Addis Ababa; and other international conference under the auspices of the United Nations, including the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg.
We realize that natural disaster such as earthquake and tsunami tidal waves respect no political borders and pose a major threat to all peoples, as well as their livelihoods and environment, as their unmitigated impact and aftermath undermine the progress of social and economic development.
We recognize the expertise of countries in the Indian Ocean Rim and the Pacific Rim in addressing the problems of tsunami and earthquake disasters and therefore emphasized the urgent need to invest in the development of proactive, integrated, multi-hazard and multi-sectoral standby arrangement and early warning system to mitigate natural disasters around the Indian Ocean Rim
To these ends, we are determined to:
Establish an integrated strategy for the development of a multi-nodal early warning system with mechanisms for preparedness, prevention, mitigation and response, with a view to minimizing casualties.
Establish an upgrade national early warning system, including those that are based on community participation, while moving toward enhancing cooperation in the development of a coordinated regional system;
Explore ways and means to enhance the effectiveness of collective action through consideration of possible rapid response capabilities at the regional and international disaster relief and emergency response, creating network for information exchange, establishing research and database centres, maximizing the use of latest advances in science and technology, and developing strategies to reduce the risk and impact of natural disaster;
Reinforce efforts to create among all levels of Asian and African societies a culture of disaster and empower those at risk to achieve protection against disaster impacts by way of enhancing capacity building, promoting public education and awareness, as well as community participation in disaster prevention and mitigation;
Encourage greater interaction among experts from Asia and Africa in finding practical ways and means, as well as sharing best practices and experiences, on preparing Asian-African countries for the direct impact of disaster and possible secondary effects such as on public health and environmental crises.
Encourage the international community to continue efforts to provide disaster affected countries with technical and financial assistance, including in rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts; and
We are determined that, harnessed within a spirit of compassion sacrifice and endurance, our preparedness and capacity to address proactively the effect of tsunami, earthquake and other natural disaster will prevail to the future betterment of our peoples.

Joint Ministerial Statement On The New Asian-African Strategic Partnership Plan of Action

We, the Ministers of the Asian-African countries, assembled in Jakarta on 20 April 2005 for the Asian-African Ministerial Meeting:
Reaffirming our commitment to the Spirit and Principles of Bandung as enshrined in the Final Communique of the 1955 Asian-African Conference and the Charter of the United Nations;
Acknowledging the need to build a bridge between Asia and Africa based on shared vision and conviction, solidarity, equal partnership, common ownership, mutual respect, interest and strength;
Emphasizing the importance of complementing and building upon existing initiatives as well as internationally agreed development targets and goals emanating from various Conferences and Summits inter alia Millennium Development Goals, Monterrey Consensus, Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and Doha Development Agenda;
Recognizing the need to enhance technical cooperation and capacity building as well as human resource development to address challenges of common concern;
Emphasizing the prominent and leading role of all Asian and African regional and sub-regional organizations in the NAASP, and the supportive role of regional development banks and United Nations regional economic commissions in promoting Asian-African partnership;
Desiring to realize mutually beneficial areas of cooperation that are pragmatic, structured, and sustainable;
To these ends, we shall strive to implement the following concrete measures in three broad areas of partnership, to which we assign special significance: