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President Mugabe

From Caesar Zvayi in JAKARTA, Indonesia
President Mugabe has a busy schedule over the next three days as he will co-chair the Asia-Africa conference that begins here today with host President Wido Widodo and also represent the African Union — which he chairs — and speak for during the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Bandung Conference on Friday.

The commemorations will be held at Gedung Merdeka, the Asia-Africa Conference Museum, where the inaugural Asia-Africa Conference was convened exactly 60 years ago.

In addition to the official duties that stem from his chairmanship of the African Union, the President will also hold bilateral talks with several heads of state and government attending the conference and commemorations.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengewi revealed the schedule in a briefing with Zimbabwean journalists saying requests for bilateral engagements were pouring in.

‘‘The heads of state and government are going to Bandung for this commemoration. His Excellency the President Cde RG Mugabe is going to speak for Africa at the Bandung Conference. And on the 22nd and 23rd, His Excellency the President Cde RG Mugabe is going to co-chair the Summit (Asia-Africa) together with the host, Indonesia.

‘‘Of course, this is in recognition of his important role as the chair of the African Union. Since this is a gathering of Asia and Africa, it is only natural that the chair of the African Union be the leader and co-chair of the Summit and be the spokesperson of the continent during the conference in Bandung,’’ he said.

Among the bilateral engagements, President Mugabe is scheduled to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping, president Widodo and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

‘‘The host president is going to have a bilateral meeting with His Excellency. We expect the President to have a bilateral meeting with the president of China Xi Jinping, and of course the president of Palestine, but more requests are still coming in,’’ Minister Mumbengegwi said.

He also said Zimbabwe and Indonesia were set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a permanent joint commission, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has said.

“It has been agreed that the two foreign ministers of Zimbabwe and Indonesia should sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the creation of a joint commission mechanism between the two countries. They have issued a document that we have already negotiated and have agreed upon and establishes a framework of co-operation between our two countries at the economic, technical and developmental level,’’ he said.

Held in Bandung the capital of West Java province from April 18 to 24 1955, the Asia-Africa Conference — later known as the Bandung Conference — marked the first time that 29 Asian and African countries gathered together to chart their own future.

The Bandung Conference thus helped find common ground between Asia and Africa.

It culminated in the Dasasila Bandung or the 10 points Bandung Declaration, in which most of the principles of the United Nations Charter were incorporated and which became the guideline for countries that were waging liberation struggles, among them Zimbabwe, in their fight for independence.

The Bandung Declaration also enshrined the fundamental principles in promoting world peace and international co-operation.

Among the luminaries who attended the first Asia-Africa Conference were Surkarno of Indonesia, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Sir John Kottalawala of Ceylon, Muhammed Ali of Pakistan, Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, U Nu of Burma, General Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Zhou En Lai of China to mention just a few.