President Truong Tan Sang joined other leaders from some 100 Asian and African nations in a ceremony held on April 24 to mark 60 years of the Asian-African Conference 1955, or the Bandung Conference, in Indonesia’s Bandung city.

The leaders took a historic walk to the Merdeka Building – also known as the Independence Building – the same route the Asian-African leaders took at their first summit in 1955 to walk from their residences to the meeting venue.

At the ceremony in the Merdeka Building, where the Asian and African leaders gathered for the first time 60 years ago, the ten-point Bandung Declaration was highlighted for laying a solid foundation for the relationship among nations from the two continents.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo stressed that the declaration’s value remains useful and the ten principles should continue to be respected.

He called for closer solidarity and cooperation between Asian and African nations for peace, prosperity and equality.

The participating leaders also watched a short film featuring the Bandung Conference and 60 years of the Asian-African Conference, including important changes in the world at large and developing Asian and African countries in particular.

After the ceremony, the leaders took part in the inaugural ceremony of the Asian-African Statue.

On the occasion, President Truong Tan Sang held a meeting with his Myanmar counterpart Thein Sein, during which he confirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to consolidating and enhancing its traditional friendship and close collaboration with Myanmar.

The Myanmar leader spoke highly of Vietnam’s role in and positive contributions to ensuring peace and stability in the region and building the ASEAN Community.

Both expressed their delight at the positive developments in bilateral ties. Trade reached 475 million USD in 2014, a 35 percent surge from the previous year.

Vietnam is currently operating seven projects worth 513.18 million USD in Myanmar, ranking eighth among 33 nations and territories investing in the country.

They also agreed to coordinate in organising activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties (May 28, 1975 – May 28, 2015), and speed up the implementation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms.

President Thein Sein confirmed that Myanmar continues to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises and investment activities in the country.

The two leaders also reached a consensus on supporting each other at regional and international forums, especially in ASEAN and the United Nations.

The Vietnamese State leader also met former Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who reiterated her support for the Vietnam-Indonesia strategic partnership.

President talks bilateral ties with Asian-African leaders

Vietnam shows high responsibility at Bandung Conference

Vietnam has actively involved in joint efforts to foster Asian-African connectivity as showed through its participation in the Asian-African Conference 2015 as one of the conference’s founders and a responsible and trustworthy partner of the two continents, said Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc.

Ngoc noted that Vietnamese officials were present at all events held at the same time in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 22-24, including President Truong Tan Sang attending a ceremony marking the 60 th anniversary of the Bandung conference and 10 years of the Asia-Africa strategic partnership, and Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc joining the World Economic Forum on East Asia.

Vietnamese leaders helped foreign friends get better understanding of Vietnam’s efforts in building a Southeast Asian region of peace, stability and prosperity.

They also clarified the need to peacefully settle disputes in conformity with international law, ensuring maritime and aviation security, safety and freedom, he said.

Vietnam also shared initiatives and experience in boosting connectivity and cooperation with African countries as well as the South-South cooperation.

The message on strengthening Asia-Africa connectivity for peace and prosperity in the world on the basis of international law delivered by State President Truong Tan Sang was lauded by event participants, said Ngoc.

At the same time, Vietnam contributed constructively to building documents used at the conference, especially those contents relating to the East Sea, water security, Ngoc stated.

The Deputy FM reiterated that the formation of the Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference in 1955, was significant since it was the first multilateral conference to gather developing and newly-liberated countries in joint actions to eliminate colonialism and cooperate for mutual development.

After Vietnam’s Dien Bien Phu victory in 1954, the conference encouraged the national liberation movements around the world, he said, noting that over 20 African countries gained independence five years after the first conference.

The conference opened up a new era of solidarity among developing countries, resulting in the inception of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, Group 77 in 1964 and then South-South Cooperation mechanism, the diplomat noted.

The 10 principles of Bandung helped with the building of common principles of conduct regulating relations among countries, including regulations of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity and not violating and intruding other countries, as well as settling disputes through peaceful measures in line with the United Nations Charter, Ngoc said.

He revealed that this year, the conference issued a number of important documents, including the Bandung message on strengthening South-South cooperation for forging global peace and prosperity, a statement on enhancing vitality of new Asian-African strategic partnership, and a statement on Palestine.

The documents highlight the role of the United Nations in maintaining international peace and security as well as the need to bolster trade, investment cooperation and connectivity.

VNA