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SEAN countries were encouraged to take advantage of regional proximity and increase South-South cooperation as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015 approaches, officials said on Tuesday.

Disaster response, agricultural skill and promotion of tourism were among the current areas of cooperation in Africa, Asia and South America.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) director for Indonesia Beate Trankman said the region had come to realize that it should be more inward looking rather than always turning to developed countries for solutions.

Trankman was opening a seminar on regional integration held by the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and the UNDP, which aimed to encourage the exchange of resources, technology and knowledge between developing countries, known as the '€œglobal South'€.

'€œThe ASEAN community offers an excellent backdrop for South-South cooperation, in the lead up to the AEC 2015,'€ she told delegates from various countries.

The AEC will provide freer movement of goods, services and skilled labor among ASEAN member countries.

Furthermore, it will strengthen South-South cooperation

Indonesia hosted the Asia-Africa conference in 1955, which led to the establishment of the Non-Alignment Movement in 1961 and became the basis of all of Indonesia'€™s South-South cooperation.

Bappenas director of international cooperation for development TA Choesni said that as a G-20 member and having 16th-largest economy, Indonesia'€™s enthusiasm for cooperation between developing countries would be an advantage come the AEC in December 2015.

Choesni added that this was evident in past South-South cooperation, which had resulted in equal benefits for partner countries.

The government, Choesni said, had donated hand tractors to Senegal and Gambia to support agriculture in both countries.

The initial donation benefited Indonesia'€™s economy because of the subequent demand for Indonesian agricultural equipment from these countries.

'€œThis is unlike North-South cooperation because the donors, traditionally the North, usually set several prerequisites the beneficiary must fulfill before receiving the assistance,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

Head of international cooperation at the Home Ministry, Basilio Araujo, agreed that more South-South cooperation within ASEAN was beneficial. However, he was not sure whether regional and provincial governments were ready for the flow of foreign labor and commodities that would come with AEC.

He said that several ASEAN member states were offering Indonesian language classes in preparation for the AEC.

Basilio also cited a lack of coordination between Bappenas and the Foreign Ministry, both of which were simultaneously developing a South-South Cooperation plan. Separately, Choesni said the government was preparing a national coordinating team comprising of representatives from Bappenas, Foreign Ministry and the State Secretary, which would work on the issue. (fss)