Bandung Conference 2024

There have been a variety of agreements that have been made between Asian and African countries over the years, and one of the most significant is the Bandung Conference. It is also called the Asian African conference, and it was a meeting of African and Asian states which took place in 1955. The meeting took place in Java, Indonesia, which was a nice halfway point between many Asian countries and many African countries. The conference itself was organized by Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia. Even though the conference has been replaced by more modern agreements, the legacy of the Bandung Conference still lives on to this day.

What Were the Goals of the Bandung Conference?

The conference had a variety of goals; however, when it met in 1955, one of the major goals with colonialism. For the past few hundred years, Africa and Asia had both been colonized by a variety of European powers. Even the United States had some overseas territories in the Pacific. At the end of WWII, many of the European powers were forced to roll back colonialism because they no longer had the money necessary to support their colonies. Furthermore, since the United States was one of the main prevailing superpowers, and it took a stance of self-determination, the European powers were forced to give up their colonies in exchange for aid from the United States. The conference was also seen as a major stepping stone towards the non-aligned movement, which ran in parallel to the Cold War during the second half of the 20th century.

Was the Bandung Conference Successful?

Largely, the conference was successful. Colonialism has largely been eradicated throughout Africa and Asia, and many of the countries have developed into powerful economies; however, the Asian countries have been a bit more successful than the African ones. Even though African and Asian countries still cooperate on a lot of economic interests, they aren't quite as close as they were at the time of the Bandung Conference; however, there are other agreements that have largely supplanted the Bandung Conference.

What Does the State of Agreement Look Like Today?

Today, there is still a tremendous amount of cooperation that takes place between African and Asian countries. In 2005, these countries celebrated the 50th anniversary of the original conference. At this conference, multiple African and Asian countries held a meeting in Jakarta. At that time, they launched a new Asian African strategic partnership, usually shortened to NAASP. This agreement was a bit different from the Bandung Conference, given that colonialism has been removed from Africa and Asia. Now, the agreement is to cooperate politically, economically, and culturally to ensure the collective prosperity of everyone in Africa and Asia. Even though the membership nations have changed slightly because some countries have developed more than others, there are still plenty of trade opportunities that have stemmed from the cooperation between African nations and Asian ones. It will be interesting to see what happens next.