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Insight: A breakthrough in the Indonesia-Africa partnership
Our trade to Africa last year only reached US$8.84 billion, merely 2.7 percent of Indonesia’s total trade with the world.
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National flags of various states in front of the Gedung Merdeka, Bandung, West Java. Bandung hosted the Asian African Conference in commemoration of its 60th anniversary. (Shutterstock.com/RossiAgung )
I
ndonesia and Africa are striving to advance and thrive together. The ties between the two can be traced back to the days when our forefathers braved the oceans to trade some 1,300 years ago.
In the last century, Indonesia and countries in Africa shared solidarity and the struggle for independence through the historic Asian-African Conference in 1955. This togetherness was again cemented through a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership in 2005, attended by 106 Asian and African countries and hosted by Indonesia. The initiative was further reinvigorated in 2015.
While history speaks volumes about solidarity and proximity, it is the future that must be shaped together by Indonesia and countries in Africa.
In its report released in February 2017, PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted that in 2050, emerging markets, including in Asia and Africa, would be the growth engine of the global economy. It is encouraging to note that according to the report, Indonesia will be the fourth-largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity by 2050, up from eighth place in 2016.
