Asian-African Summit 2005 and the Commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Asian-African Conference 1955

April 19, 2005

1. Overview

1.1 Schedule:

1.2 Participants:

Heads of State/Government from about 100 countries of Asia and Africa

Note:
Indonesia and South Africa will host the Conference, and about 100 countries in Asia and Africa will take part in it. Only Japan out of the G8 and DAC countries is attending the Conference with full status. The countries that will participate are 52 African countries (excluding Togo); and 54 other countries and territories: the Middle East including Palestine but not Israel; the Central Asian countries; and the most of the Pacific Island countries but not Australia, New Zealand and some others, making a total of 106 countries and territories. The international organizations (U.N., Multilateral Development Banks, sub-regional Organizations) and observer countries (South America, Europe and U.S., and others) may attend it.

1.3 Host Countries and Background: Co-hosted by Indonesia and South Africa

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who attended the ASEAN Summit in November 2002, and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who was the chairman of the Summit at the time, agreed to hold the Conference. Ministerial level preparatory conferences (Asian-African Sub-Regional Organizations Conference: AASROC) were held in Indonesia (Bandung) in August 2003 and South Africa (Durban) in August 2004.

2. Contents

• The theme of the Conference is "Invigorating the Bandung Spirit: Working towards a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership."
• It aims to strengthen a comprehensive and cooperative relationship between Asia and Africa in the political, economic, socio-cultural spheres. As a summary, a Declaration by the leaders, "New Asian-African Strategic Partnership," will be compiled and signed at the Commemoration on the 24th April. A Joint Ministerial Statement, which gives concrete form to the Declaration to some degree and indicate action plans in the three fields of politics, economy, and society and culture, and a Joint Asian-African Leaders Statement on Tsunami and Earthquake Disasters will be also adopted.
• To strengthen the economic relationship between the two regions, various side events including a meeting of representatives of public-sector enterprises (Asian-African Business Summit 2005) will be held.

3. Significance

• Asian-African Conference 1955 was a historic meeting held in 1955 in which leaders and foreign ministers of 29 Asian and African countries gathered on the initiative of the leaders of the Third World at that time, including Premier Chou En-lai (China), President Achmed Sukarno (Indonesia) and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (India). The Conference is recognized therefore as a symbol of unity among the Asian and African countries.
• Japan is the only industrialized country to formally attend the Conference, and as a bridge between the Conference and the G8 Process, it holds an important position.
• Japan has been promoting Asia-Africa cooperation, through the TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) process, which utilizes Asia's experience of growth for African development.

Related Information (Japan-Asia Relations)
Related Information (Japan-Africa Relations)