Spirit of Bandung Conference still needed for peace, prosperity: Pakistani analyst

The spirit of the Asian-Afircan Conference, also known as Bandung Conference, was a common desire of developing countries to make collective progress, and that spirit is still needed for peace and prosperity at regional and global level, a senior Pakistani analyst said.

Commenting on the upcoming 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, Pakistan's former foreign secretary Akram Zaki appreciated the concept to remember the historic event, which ushered in an era of positive relations, mutual respect and non- interference of other states.

"The basic idea of the Bandung Conference was that newly independent countries of Asia and Africa who were emerging from colonialism have common policies, common past and common needs, so they must work together to decide their future," said Zaki told Xinhua on Saturday.

Talking about the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence advocated by then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, he said China has been trumpeting these norms in the world for decades with its policies and efforts.

"The basic principal of peaceful co-existence is not to interfere into each other's internal affairs and to recognize everybody's right of deciding their own destiny and cooperating on the basis of mutual respect, mutual confidence and mutual benefit, which is the most solid relationship between the nations," he said.

In 1955, 29 Asian and African countries agreed in Bandung on the principles to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations and to promote Asian-African economic and cultural cooperation.

Zaki considered the Bandung Conference as the forum that laid the foundation for China-Pakistan relations and cooperation.

"At the conference, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and Pakistani Premier Muhammad Ali Bogra became very close, and the next year, leaders from the both sides visited each other. Now, China and Pakistan have developed multidimensional comprehensive everlasting relationship and the link that was established in 1955 is becoming stronger and stronger," he said.

Appreciating China's policy of advocating peace and joint development, Zaki said China's "Belt and Road" initiative is really a revival of historical traditional Silk Road, but it is also reviving the concept of co-prosperity in a peaceful way.

"China's philosophy of 'One Belt and One Road' is now making a regional as well as global connectivity and China wants connectivity to grow into a cooperative relationship and joint development."

Zaki said China, through its friendly relations with its neighbors, has been stressing on the concept that "the real partnership is sharing with others, not taking advantages of other countries." Endi