(Photo courtesy of Egypt’s Cabinet)
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb left for Indonesia on Monday to participate in the Asian-African Conference Commemoration held in Jakarta from 22 to 24 April, accompanied by several high-rank meetings on ministerial and presidential level.
The invitation to attend the conference had been issued to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in March by Elwy Abdul Rahman Shehab, the Indonesian president’s Special Envoy to the Middle East. Al-Sisi designated his prime minister to attend the conference.
The conference is held to commemorate the Asian-African Conference of 1955 which was organised in the face of the continuing decolonisation along with the Cold War and the reluctance of the western powers to discuss regional issues with their former colonies.
A follow-up conference never occurred during the Cold War, since many key countries preferred to organise themselves in the Non-Aligned Movement instead of following the anti-western course of China. However, 50 years later in 2005 the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NSAAP) was formed.
This new agreement included cooperation agreements on the fields of economics, politics and culture. In the 2015 conference the participants are to sign a “document on reinvigorating NAASP”, and a “declaration regarding Asian-African nations’ support to Palestine” in commemoration of the anti-colonial history of the conference.
