President Robert Mugabe, who is also the SADC and African Union (AU) Chairman, has left for Indonesia to attend the Asia-Africa Summit and the ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the Bandung conference.
President Mugabe, who is accompanied by the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and senior government officials, is going to be among more than 30 heads of state from Africa and Asia who will gather in Jakarta this week to share their countries’ economic development experiences.
The delegates will also commemorate the 10th anniversary of the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP).
The summit, which is held after every 10 years, is running under the theme: ‘Strengthening South-South Cooperation to Promote World Peace and Prosperity,’
The summit will also help Asian and African nations build stronger partnerships while giving the leaders opportunities to discuss solutions to overcome common challenges such as poverty and underdevelopment through the strengthening of south to south cooperation.
In 1955, representatives from 29 Asian and African countries met in Bandung, Indonesia to discuss independence, peace and economic prosperity.
The conference marked an important milestone in the history of Asian and African countries as it adopted a final communiqué speaking out against imperialism and super power hegemony.
The Asia-Africa conference was originally held to address peace, security and economic problems during the cold war between the United States and Russia when both the western bloc and the eastern bloc were vying to win support from Asian and African countries.
The United Nations (UN) recognises the Non-Aligned Movement and the organisation still holds regular summits, but the removal of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which ended the cold war, made it irrelevant.
Cde Mugabe was seen off at the Harare International Airport by the two vice presidents, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa and Cde Phelekhezela Mpoko, Defence Minister Dr Sydney Sekeramayi; Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo; the Minister of State for Harare Metropolitan Province, Cde Miriam Chikukwa, senior government officials and service chiefs.