New York, 19 October 2004 Mr. President, It is my privilege to associate myself with the previous speakers who expressed appreciation for the Secretary-General’s reports on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development: second consolidated report and progress in implementation and international support as contained in document A/59/206. I also wish to associate myself with the statement made by the distinguished representative of Qatar on behalf of the Group of 77 and China as well as by the distinguished representative of Lao PDR on behalf of ASEAN. Mr. President, NEPAD is a pledge by African leaders, based on a common vision and a firm and shared conviction, that they have a pressing duty to eradicate poverty and to place their countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development, and at the same time to participate actively in the world economy and body politic. This vision and this conviction have been supported by many countries, including Indonesia. We note with interest that, as stated in the Secretary-General’s report, much progress has been made by African countries in developing sectoral policy frameworks, in the implementation of specific programs and projects, and in the earmarking of financial allocations to selected NEPAD sectoral priorities. Much progress has also been noted in moving the African Peer Review Mechanism process forward. In our view, however, such progress merely sets the stage for the necessary hard work to deal with current conflicts, crop failures, food insecurity and HIV/AIDS disease which continue to inflict great misery on African people. Therefore, addressing these challenges requires a far greater and integrated response from both the Governments of Africa and the international community. In this regard, the Millennium Declaration, NEPAD and the development objectives set out in the MDGs, taken together, provide both a framework and mechanisms for the international community to assist Africa in responding to these problems. We believe that the United Nations has a key role in mobilizing international support to NEPAD. Particularly encouraging are the invaluable contributions currently being made by the UN system to ensure the success of the NEPAD Initiative, including in the areas of conflict resolution and sustainable development. Placing NEPAD within the MDGs framework, the UN system is making available a wide range of expertise and support to facilitate the achievement of the goals of NEPAD. Mr. President, My delegation believes that South-South cooperation is an important complement to international development cooperation. In this regard, cooperation between African countries and Indonesia has been established under the framework of technical cooperation among developing countries. The Secretary-General’s report notes that Indonesia provided a technical cooperation programme to 11 African countries in 2003. Indonesia stands ready to further such cooperation. It is in this spirit of cooperation that the Government of Indonesia together with the Government of South Africa initiated the convening of the Asia Africa Sub Regional Organizations Conference (AASROC) in Bandung, Indonesia, in July 2003 and Durban, South Africa in August 2004 respectively. Inspired and guided by the Spirit of Bandung which revealed itself in 1955 when the first Asia-Africa conference was held in the city of Bandung, Indonesia, a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) is being established to achieve a better future for countries on both the African and Asian continents. The NAASP is a partnership that allows countries of the two continents to unite and make use of the world’s largest pool of natural resources and engage all regional stakeholders in a concerted endeavour to achieve peace, stability, and prosperity. Yet, the NAASP will by no means duplicate existing regional initiatives but add to them. It will build upon and support existing initiatives, such as NEPAD, TICAD, ASEAN, the Sino-Africa process, the India-NEPAD fund as well as other initiatives to help create conditions for sustainable peace and development in Africa. The AASROC process is also deeply involved in the preparation of the Asian-African Summit to be held in Jakarta and Bandung on 21-23 April 2005 in conjunction with the Commemoration of the Golden Jubilee being held to mark the historic 1955 Asian-African Conference. The theme of the Summit will be “Reinvigorating the Bandung Spirit: Working Towards a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership”. The Summit will endorse the New Asia Africa Strategic Partnership as a renewed political spirit to enhance cooperation of the two continents. Towards this event, Indonesia and South Africa will convene an Eminent Persons Meeting in December 2004 and the Preparatory Meeting in February 2005. Finally, Mr. President, my Government looks forward to welcoming the participation of the Asian and African countries in the Asian-African Summit in Indonesia. We also look forward to the participation and cooperation of relevant bodies and agencies of the United Nations system and other international organizations and mechanisms with a view to contributing positively to the success of the Asian-African Summit. Thank you.
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