The African Union (AU) kicked off the celebrations of Africa Day in Jakarta on Thursday, commemorating 50 years of cooperation and unity on the African continent.

Marking the celebrations, the AU plans to consider 'Agenda 2063', a blueprint that African leaders say will bring an 'African renaissance' to the continent, socio-economically as well as politically.

'We will focus on the creation of the AU force, the alleviation of poverty, job creation and lowering the number of communicable diseases,' said South Africa Ambassador to Indonesia Noel Noa Lehoko.

Zimbabwe Ambassador to Indonesia Alice Mageza said she was optimistic the AU would reach the '2063 vision'.

'If you look at a map of the world, Africa is at the center. This is an opportunity for us to utilize that central position for the benefit of the peoples of Africa,' said Mageza.

The 53-member state AU is working on an African Economic Community, to bring together five regional blocks, including the Economic Community of West African States, the Economic Community of the Maghreb States, the East African Community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African States, and the Southern African Development Community.

But how important is the 2063 vision to Indonesia?

Indonesia's trade with African countries was valued at US$11.35 billion in 2012, an increase from US$9.59 billion in 2011. Africa's top commodity exports to Indonesia are crude oil, textiles and chemicals, among others. Indonesia's top exports to Africa are crude palm oil, consumer goods and paper products.

'Indonesia and ASEAN are important partners of the AU, with strong South-to-South relationships, as well as people-to-people contact,' said South Africa's Lehoko.

Egyptian Ambassador Bahaa El Deen Bahgat Ibrahim Dessouki noted the long history between Indonesia and Africa, especially Egypt.

'Egypt was the first country to recognize the independence of Indonesia in 1945. We were the first country to sign a friendship treaty with Indonesia between Sukarno and King Farouk I,' Dessouki said.

He noted education as a central part of Indonesia-Egypt relations, saying there were almost 6,300 Indonesian students at Al-Azhar University and Cairo University.

'Indonesia is also the first country from which we received students for Al-Azhar University,' he said.

Another aspect of the 2063 vision is peacekeeping in the region.

 The AU recently changed its principle of non-interference to non-indifference, meaning it will deploy military forces to member countries in situations of genocide and crimes against humanity.

'Where there are conflicts, we can quickly send military forces to intervene,' Zimbabwe's Mageza said. (asw)

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