The Senate Speaker participates in the Indonesia-Africa Parliamentary Forum

On Sunday, September 1, 2024, the Senatev Speaker, Right Honourable Emmanuel SINZOHAGERA, partook in the Indonesia-Africa Parliamentary Forum which took place in Nusu Dua, Bali, in Indonesia on September 1 and 2, 2024.

That important event entitled “Forging an Indonesia-Africa Parliamentary Partnership for Development”, aims at capitalizing the rich historical ties and fostering deeper cooperation between Indonesia and African countries.

Among other topics under discussion figure the South-South cooperation for sustainable development and prosperity; harnessing the potential of trade and investment for inclusive economic growth; the role of parliaments in strengthening South-South and triangular cooperation for economic prosperity and sustainable growth.

Furthermore, the forum highlighted the importance of building resilient communities through health and food security initiatives. This includes strengthening collaboration in the pharmaceutical industry for vaccine development as well as the mitigation of risks of global food crises through sustainable agricultural research, aiming at improving public health and food security in our regions.

Taking the turn, The Right Honourable Speaker of the Senate of Burundi indicated that promoting trade and investments for an inclusive economic growth is still a difficult issue, especially in Africa. He recalled that Africa is facing instability due to wars, and these have only one objective, that of not giving Africans the opportunity to add value to their raw materials. “Africa will never grow and become the hope of future generations if our raw materials are not extracted and valued in Africa through industrialization,” he said.

He recalled that Africa is a victim of “divide and rule” policies, adding that it will be very difficult for Africa to defend the well-being of its people if it does not have a common voice, a common vision and a common agenda,

Another issue raised by Burundi Senate Speaker is the lack of energy in Africa, while investment in the INGA dam project could produce 43,200 MW of green energy, which would help Africa develop industrially. He asked participants to turn words into concrete actions.

Let us recollect that the African continent has close historical relations with Indonesia. This is not due to their proximity, but rather to shared values ​​of solidarity, anti-colonialism as well as the intention to benefit from cooperation between countries of the South. The Asian-African Conference of 1955 and the Non-Aligned Movement of 1961 have marked the history of Indonesia’s relations with the African continent.