By Mohammad Al-Moula
KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 (KUNA) -- Kuwait partook in the ministerial meeting of member states in the Asian-African conference on Monday in preparation for the Asian-African summit to be held in Jakarta.
Kuwait's acting charge d'affaires in Jakarta Nasser Al-Khaldi said in remarks to KUNA by phone on Tuesday that that Kuwaiti delegation took part early yesterday in the ministerial meeting of the conference in preparation for the Asian-African summit that will kick off tomorrow in commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Asian-African Conference and the 10th Anniversary of the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP).
This conference comes to boost cooperation between the developing countries besides reviving the new strategic Asian-African partnership, as well as declaring the African-Asian support to Palestine, he said.
Kuwait's participation in this event reflects its belief in the importance of the cooperation and coordination between the nationals of the Asian and African continents, Al-Khaldi affirmed.
Kuwait is a pioneer in offering initiatives to improve ties with a large number of Asian and African countries, as it held a number of conferences on that matter, he added.
A total of 109 world countries' leaders, besides representativs of 29 African and Asian countries gathered in that assembly, with the theme "Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity".
This conference comes to boost cooperation between South-South countries and enhance the capabilities of the developing nations to achieve further prosperity and peace in both the African and Asian continents.
South-South Cooperation is a term historically used by policymakers and academics to describe the exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the global South-South cooperation, which is a broad framework for collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and technical domains.
The conference was launched in April 19 by senior officials in the cities of Jakarta and Bandung, followed by a ministerial meeting held yesterday in Jakarta, to be followed by a business summit on April 21-22, and then the conference leaders' meeting on April 22-23, and finally the commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Asian-African Conference on April 24.
First large-scale Asian-African or Afro-Asian Conference-also known as the Bandung Conference was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on April 18-24, 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia. (end) mam.lb