VP address Asia- Africa leaders forum

The Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi called for the strengthening of south to south cooperation in areas of trade, investment and technology saying they are crucial for the faster development of the two regions.

This was during the African and Asian leaders gathering in Jakarta.

The Vice President also called upon the UN to consider concerns of Africa’s under representation on the UN permanent seats and the UN Security Council and commended the leaders at the summit for their solidarity against human rights ideas that disregard moral and cultural values.

He urged leaders at the summit to remain committed to fight against terrorism and condemned the recent terror attack on Garrissa University in Kenya and the beheading of Ethiopian Christians in Libya but also cautioned leaders against linking terrorism with nationality, civilization, religion or ethnic grouping.  

The Asian and African leaders called for a new global order that is more open and accommodative to all to provide for a level global economic ground and equitable growth.

Speaking at the opening of the five-day event at the Jakarta convention centre, Indonesia President Joko Widodo drew applause from the audience when he referred the current global economic system as obsolete.

‘‘Those who still insist that global economic problems could only be solved through the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank were clinging to "obsolete ideas" of Bretton Woods institutions in the past’’

The meeting of Asian and African nations in Jakarta coincided with the 60th anniversary of a conference that rallied the developing world against colonialism and led to the Cold War era's non-aligned movement.


He urged delegates at the summit to continue advocating for what he called open, development oriented, non-discriminatory and all inclusive multilateral trading system which he said will offer meaningful insurance for long term survival for the people in the two regions.


Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping, were among leaders at the summit and were expected to meet on the sidelines of the conference, in an effort towards ending the tension in relations between the Asian rivals.

China and Japan have strained relations rooted in their past wartime and more recent territorial rows and regional rivalry.

Leaders will on Friday visit the historical town of Bandung where the Asia–Africa movement was born and has been declared by the city Mayor Ridwan Kamil as human rights city.

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Ssekandi for Asia-Africa summit in Indonesia