Six State Leaders Scrap Attendance at AAC
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Senin, 30 November -0001 00:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said six heads of state had cancelled their attendance at the 60th commemoration of the Asia-Africa Conference (AAC) on April 22-23, 2015.
“Some said the reasons of absence were domestic issues, like a parliament session, failure to secure parliamentary consent, and elections,” Nasir said at the Jakarta Convention Center on Tuesday, April 22, 2015.
Earlier, the ministry recorded 27 confirmations of attendance from Asian-African leaders. Nasir only revealed two of the six state leaders cancelling their attendance: from South Africa and Sudan.
South African President Jacob Zuma said he could not take part in the conference in light of the country’s growing security tensions following xenophobic rioting.
Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, meanwhile, had to scrap his attendance for failing to get flight clearance from several countries on the route to Indonesia.
The confirmed number of countries participating in the summit is 106, comprising 21 heads of state, 80 representatives (vice presidents or prime ministers), and special envoys and high-ranking officials.
Ten international organizations are also slated to attend the summit, among them the U.N., the African Union, the Asian Development Bank, the Arab League and the South Center.
Nasir said U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon was also bound to be absent from the summit and could not confirm yet as to whom his replacement would be.
Asian-African leaders will proclaim three documents as a result of the summit: the Bandung Message, the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) and the Palestinian Declaration.
ANTARA