State leaders of countries in Asia and Africa gathered in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Saturday to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between the two continents for the second and final day of the Asian-African Summit.
The meeting is also a 50th commemoration of the first summit, called the Bandung Conference. Those meetings, held as some countries of the southern hemisphere were still struggling for independence from their colonisers, paved the way for the Non-Aligned Movement of the Cold War.
Leaders from Asian and African countries, as well as representatives from outside the two continents, are scheduled to discuss on Saturday ways to build on that partnership and make it relevant to contemporary times.
An expected meeting on Saturday between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao will likely grab much of the attention from the summit for a second day in a row.
Koizumi and Hu will try to diffuse recently heightened tensions that have arisen over a number of historic issues, driving relations between the two countries to their lowest level in three decades.
The details of the meeting have not been announced, but Koizumi confirmed the meeting on Friday and a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the two sides will hold a meeting on Saturday night.
Koizumi is scheduled to travel on Saturday morning to Aceh, the province worst hit by the December 26 tsunami disaster, and was scheduled to return to Jakarta in the afternoon. The Japanese prime minister is scheduled to hold a press conference late on Saturday night.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan also is scheduled to speak on Saturday afternoon to reporters at the summit about his efforts to push UN reform.
Saturday’s closing day of the summit is be followed on Sunday by a ceremonial visit to the site of the original conference in Bandung, West Java. — Sapa-DPA