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RI should benefit more from 'Rising Africa'
Exploring partnerships: South African Ambassador to Indonesia Pakamisa Augustine Sifuba (left) gives a presentation on Wednesday at the Foreign Ministry, while Tunisian Ambassador Mourad Belhassen (second right), Sudanese Ambassador Abd Al Rahim Al Siddig (second left) and Nigerian Ambassador Mohammad Lawal Sulaiman (right) wait to speak
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span class="inline inline-center">Exploring partnerships: South African Ambassador to Indonesia Pakamisa Augustine Sifuba (left) gives a presentation on Wednesday at the Foreign Ministry, while Tunisian Ambassador Mourad Belhassen (second right), Sudanese Ambassador Abd Al Rahim Al Siddig (second left) and Nigerian Ambassador Mohammad Lawal Sulaiman (right) wait to speak. The ambassadors were participating in a seminar at the ministry entitled Rising Africa, which looked at the countries' tourism and investment potential. JP/AWO
Indonesia will pursue more cooperation with African nations as they transform into rising powers, with robust economic growth making the continent more competitive on the global stage.
Deputy Foreign Minister Dino Patti Djalal said that African countries and Indonesia were changing.
He recounted an article in The Economist's May 2000 edition that painted Africa as the 'hopeless continent' with an illustration of a black man holding a weapon. The article depicted Africa more than a decade ago, when it was plagued by civil wars, poverty, disease, malnutrition, famine and AIDS.
At the same time, Indonesia was dubbed the 'sick man of Asia' as the country was struggling to recover from the 1997/1998 economic crisis.
'If you look at Africa and Indonesia today, we are not the same as we were 50 or 60 years ago. Africa has changed, just as Indonesia has,' Dino said in his opening remarks at Rising Africa international seminar in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Political and economic reforms have resulted in Indonesia being the third-largest democratic country with impressive economic growth, which was ranked the world's 10th largest economy in a report published by the World Bank in May.
Like Indonesia, African countries have undergone 'serious and bold political and economic reform'. For example, of the 54 African countries, the number of countries adopting democratic systems has reached 25, up from two in 2000, Dino said.
Rwanda, which was plagued by genocide in 1994 with around 1 million people killed, was named the second-most improved country in the world, according to the 2014 Doing Business Report by the
World Bank.
'The World Bank has named Rwanda the world's top reformer. [What has happened in Africa] blows my mind,' he said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the African economy to grow 5.5 percent in 2014, up from 4.9 percent growth in 2013. Ten of the fastest growing economies in the world are located in Africa.
Zimbabwean Ambassador to Indonesia Alice Mageza also recalled media stereotyping the continent as the 'hopeless continent'. 'I could understand such a label, but the newspaper recently made an article entitled 'Africa Rising: A hopeful continent'.
' I want to say that Africa is not only rising but is also a 'Roaring Lion' in this century,' she said.
She hoped that Indonesia and African countries could strengthen bilateral ties in all sectors, from education and culture to trade, mining and agriculture.
Both Indonesia and African nations have democratic systems. They also have abundant natural resources.
'The African continent produces more than half of the total diamonds in the world. It also produces more than 60 percent of the world's oil and gas,' said Mageza, who is also the dean of the Group of African Ambassadors. (alz)
