INDONESIA TO HOST "ASIA-AFRICA" CONFERENCE FOCUSED

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 001537 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, NEA, NEA/IPA NSC FOR D.WALTON E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID ID XF SUBJECT: INDONESIA TO HOST "ASIA-AFRICA" CONFERENCE FOCUSED ON PALESTINIAN CAPACITY-BUILDING REF: A. EAP/MTS-JAKARTA POL 09-15-2009 EMAIL ¶B. 08 JAKARTA 1348 Classified By: Pol/C Joseph L. Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Indonesia has announced that it plans to host an "Asia-Africa" conference for senior officials in Jakarta in October. The conference will largely focus on Palestinian capacity-building, and comes against the backdrop of a technical conference on that subject sponsored by the GOI and South Africa which was held in Jakarta in July 2008. As part of this initiative, the GOI has trained a handful of Palestinian diplomats in the past year. The "Asia-Africa" rubric is near and dear to the GOI as it serves to reinforce principals enunciated at the Bandung Summit of 1955, a seminal event in Indonesian foreign policy. END SUMMARY. PLANNED OCTOBER CONFERENCE ¶2. (U) The GOI has confirmed that it will host an "Asia-Africa" conference for senior officials in October. The conference will take place in Jakarta, October 12-13. The official title of the conference is: the "New Asian African Strategic Partnership Senior Officials' Meeting" (NAASP SOM). According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DEPLU),the agenda of the conference will focus on such issues as "political solidarity, economic cooperation plus development and social issues." The conference will also discuss the "Asian African Development University Network," an initiative designed to increase educational cooperation among member-states. FOCUS ON PALESTINIAN CAPACITY-BUILDING ¶3. (SBU) Our GOI contacts have confirmed that a major focus for the conference will be "Palestinian capacity-building." The October conference comes against the backdrop of a technical conference sponsored by the GOI and South Africa in Jakarta in July 2008 (see ref b). As part of the effort, the GOI has trained a handful of Palestinian Authority diplomats in the past year and other countries have engaged the Palestinians in technical cooperation, especially in the training area. The GOI has also sponsored training for "mechanical engineering." Indonesia has committed to training 1,000 Palestinians in various areas in the 2008-13 timeframe. IMPORTANT PROCESS FOR INDONESIA ¶4. (C) The "Asia-Africa" rubric is near and dear to the GOI as it serves to reinforce non-aligned, "anti-colonial" principals enunciated at the Bandung Summit of 1955. (Note: Honoring a seminal event in Indonesian foreign policy, the Bandung Summit site is a now a well-kept museum run by the GOI; Indonesian schoolchildren visit the site en masse every year to learn about the Summit and Indonesia's role in the Non-Aligned Movement.) Indonesia sponsored a 50th anniversary conference in honor of the Bandung Summit in 2005 and has been working to institutionalize the process. The last meeting of the "NAASP SOM" took place in Durban, South Africa, in 2006. One Indonesian contact told us that "we don't expect that much from the process, but it serves to highlight Indonesia's role in the developing world" OSIUS