SPDC Chairman Visits Indonesia SPDC Chairman visits Jakarta MYANMAR TIMES By Nwe Nwe Aye and Moe Zaw Myint Two continents to affirm a strategic partnership Myanmar’s Foreign Minister U Nyan Win talks to journalists after meeting his Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirayuda, in Jakarta last week. Foreign ministers from Asia and Africa held talks in the Indonesian capital with the aim of drafting an agreement on a strategic alliance ahead of last weekend’s summit of leaders from both continents. THE Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Senior-General Than Shwe, joined heads of state from more than 50 Asian and African countries in Indonesia last week for events marking the 50th anniversary of the Asian-African conference. The events included an Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta on April 22 and 23 and a ceremony on April 24 in Bandung, about 110 kilometres southeast of Indonesian capital, which hosted the historic conference in 1955. The representatives of more than 80 countries were to attend the events. The leaders from the two continents would launch the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership as a testimony to their strong commitment to working together toward a better future, the Indonesian embassy said in a statement released on April 20. “This will mark the rise of newer and closer cooperation among the countries of the two continents,” it said. The statement said events in Bandung marking the Golden Jubilee commemoration would include an historical walk by the heads of state and government, who would also each plant a tree in an ‘Asia-Africa Forest’ to symbolise the close cooperation between the two continents. Events being held in Jakarta and Bandung in conjunction with the anniversary include an Asian-African business summit, a symposium on renewable energy in Asia and Africa, a workshop on the role of women and youth in furthering Asia-African cooperation and a trade fair, it said. A 14-member business delegation led by the president of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, U Win Myint, left Myanmar on April 20 to attend the business summit, being held in Jakarta on April 21 and 22. The secretary-general of the federation, U Sein Win Hlaing, told Myanmar Times on April 17 before leaving for Jakarta that the summit was expected to pave the way for promoting trade and investment between the two continents. U Sein Win Hlaing said the delegation would also participate in a six-day trade fair beginning in Bandung on April 20. Myanmar would mainly exhibit forestry products, fishery products, pulses and beans, gems and jewellery, and traditional tapestries at the fair. He said the business summit and the exposition would provide Myanmar with an opportunity to seek direct markets for its products. “As many countries from Asia and Africa will attend the business summit, we will be able to enhance business relations with other countries, and other countries will be more widely aware of Myanmar products,” said U Sein Win Hlaing. “Africa is a major market for Myanmar’s agricultural commodities such as rice and pulses and beans. But some products are not directly exported. For example, Myanmar exports pulses and beans to India and India re-exports them to Africa. So I hope we will be able to explore direct markets for Myanmar products to Africa,” he said. The Asian-African Conference in 1955 was attended by representatives from 29 countries on the two continents and led to the emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement. The idea for the conference was proposed by Indonesia the previous year at a meeting in Sri Lanka at which India, Myanmar and Pakistan were also represented. The conference adopted 10 principles on in ternational relations, which reflected the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence advocated by China, India and Myanmar in 1954. The five principles include mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in another country’s internal affairs, mutual non-aggression, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. A noted Myanmar scholar, U Nyunt Tin, the general secretary of the Myanmar Institute for International Studies under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the five principles had prevented the outbreak of another world war and had given rise to an environment for peaceful development. In an interview posted on the website of the China’s state-run news agency, Xinhua, on April 18, U Nyunt Tin said that the five principles had “proven right in the past. It is now proven right in the present and in the future also. It will be very beneficial for the whole world.” U Nyunt Tin said Myanmar attached much importance to the five principles, on which its diplomacy was based. ~