Feature: Indonesia's Bandung ready to welcome 60th Asia Africa Conference delegations

Indonesia's heritage city of Bandung in West Java province is readying itself to welcome high- profile delegations attending part of the events of the 60th Asia Africa Conference (AAC) slated for April 19 to 24, with efforts to beautify the city beginning months before the event.

The city that serves as the capital of West Java province will host the AAC summit scheduled to peak at the 60th AAC event between April 23 to 24, continuing with the senior official and ministerial meetings sessions previously held in the nation's capital city of Jakarta.

Among the main events anticipated the most in the AAC was the historical walk jointly conducted by AAC state leaders from the city's classic hotel Savoy Homann to the Merdeka Building, the venue that hosted the initial AAC in 1955.

The 20-meter walk from the hotel to the conference venue would re-enact the closeness and togetherness of leaders of AAC countries, sending a message to the world on their eagerness for further cooperation based on the Bandung principles concluded in 1955.

At that time, AAC leaders participating in the historical walk included Soekarno from Indonesia, Norodom Sihanouk from Cambodia, U Nu from Myanmar, Gamal Abdel Nasser from Egypt and Zhou Enlai from China, among others.

Bandung's Merdeka Building, which now serves as an AAC museum, is a pivotal venue for the AAC as it hosted the initial AAC held in 1955 that promoted a peaceful coexistence, equality, respect, non-alignment and encouraged cooperation among them.

The values produced by the 1955 AAC were eventually adopted in the charters of the Non-Aligned Bloc and the United Nations later on.

The Merdeka Building was constructed during the Dutch colonial era in 1895 and was renovated in 1926 by Dutch engineers. The 7, 500 meter square building was originally designed as an upscale place for Dutch officials to socialize.

The head of the museum Thomas Siregar said that the museum has been beautified to welcome delegates attending the 60th AAC, adding that it was part of preparations conducted by Bandung municipal and West Java province that have been going on for the past two months.

"Renovation work to polish the building and the installation of facilities to support the staging of the conference were among the activities to make the museum ready to hold the summit. The organizer has also prepared 60 side events comprised of cultural attractions from several countries participating in the upcoming 60th AAC," Siregar told Xinhua in the museum's premises on Wednesday, adding that the re-enactment of the historical walk would be a crucial event prepared by the organizer.

Siregar said the municipal government has fixed the city's infrastructure, including roads, electricity and lamps to improve the delegates' visit.

Among the side events to be presented in front of the dignitaries attending the AAC summit in Bandung was a record- breaking West Java's Angklung musical instrument, which Siregar said would be played by 2,000 musicians.

According to Siregar, the museum would be closed to the public until the end of the month in a bid to provide maximum service to the delegates.

"We decided to do this to make renovations and ensure measures to address the security of the delegations, during their time here, " he said.

Usually, the museum, situated in the heart of the city, is visited by hundreds of students and people enthusiastic about learning the history of AAC and Indonesia's pivotal role to promote independence, respect and equality in international relations several decades ago, Siregar told Xinhua.

Bandung has been inseparable with the AAC since it first hosted the historic event in 1955, and has the spirit and atmosphere to further support the AAC principle that made the former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarded Bandung as the capital of AAC, Siregar said.

The mayor of Bandung Ridwan Kamil said in an earlier report that Bandung is fully ready to host the 60th AAC, adding that his administration would declare a public holiday on April 24 so as to allow people to take part in celebrating the international event.

The Indonesian government allocated some 200 billion rupiah ( about 15.4 million U.S. dollars) from the state budget to finance the event, State Secretary Minister Pratikno said as quoted in a report earlier. More than 4,200 police will be deployed to Jakarta and Bandung to secure the event.

Welcoming the 60th AAC, the exterior of the Merdeka Museum was decorated with flags of the AAC countries and concrete balls etched with the names of countries placed in sidewalks around the museum.

Like in several prominent places in the city, banners to welcome the 60th AAC displaying the AAC founding fathers and values stipulated in the Bandung Principle were also seen around the museum.

Inside the museum, finishing touches are still being completed. Hamid, the carpet installer said that the carpeting has taken two weeks, covering the executive lounges in the museum for VVIP persons attending the AAC summit, stairways and balcony in the conference room.

"The carpeting is scheduled to finish today. The last job is carpeting the stairways whose marbling had already worn out, so as to comfort and assure the safety of those attending the conference, " Hamid told Xinhua as he was working in the spacious conference room used in the 1955 AAC.

The other workers were seen fixing the lamps in the ceiling and installing wi-fi devices in the corner of the balcony inside the 3, 000 meter-square conference room.

On the stage of the conference room, flags of AAC countries have been arranged neatly with a huge gong decorated with logos and flags of the countries and set on the lower right side of the stage.

Ian Tenggara, a technical assistance officer who installed the wi fi devices said that three 3.5G routers with a speed of 20 Mbps would be installed inside the museum premises.

"Each device may serve up to 60 users," the officer who works for Huawei, the partner vendor of the state-run telecommunication firm Telkomsel, told Xinhua. He added that an internet access with a capacity of 1 terra byte would also be prepared to support the event.

All of those preparations were aimed at greatly supporting the delegates to attain the goal of the 60th AAC, which is expected to become a milestone in enhancing South-South cooperation to address the challenges faced by the global community at the moment.

A president's aide said last week that some 29 heads of states have conveyed their confirmation to attend the 60th AAC.

The 60th AAC is expected to forge a new Asia and Africa strategic partnership mechanism and a declaration of support for Palestinian independence, among others. Endi