- PRESIDENT CO-CHAIRS FIRST PLENARY SESSION OF ASIAN-AFRICAN LEADERS' SUMMIT

Jakarta, April 22 (Antara) - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo along with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe co-chaired the first plenary session of the Asian-African Leaders' Summit at the Jakarta Convention Centre, here on Wednesday. "I thank the president of Zimbabwe for his willingness to co-chair this session. Next, other heads of state will chair the following sessions. Every leader will have no more than five minutes to give a statement, so we could finish our sessions on time," the president stated. During the first plenary session, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi read out the results of the Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) and the Ministerial Meeting held respectively on April 19 and 20, 2015. Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) Suryo Bambang Sulisto also read out the results of the Asian-African Business Summit organized on April 22, 2015. Jokowi invited Mugabe to express his views and was followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Jordanian King Abdullah II. Other leaders attending the summit included Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Hasanal Bolkiah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Timor Leste President Taur Matan Ruak, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al Hamdallah, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan, and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The meetings and summits are being organized to mark the 60th commemoration of the Asian-African Conference (AAC), which was held for the first time in Bandung, West Java, in April 1955, at the initiative of Indonesia, Myanmar (Burma), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, and Pakistan. It was viewed as a symbol of liberating countries from colonialism, besides being a symbol of resurgence of Asian and African nations. Some 29 countries representing more than half the world's population had sent their delegates to attend the conference. The conference resulted in the "Dasasila" Bandung, or the 10-point Bandung Declaration, on the Promotion of World Peace and Cooperation. Sixty years since the first AAC, all countries are now free and have gained independence except for Palestine, which is still occupied by Zionist Israel and has faced apartheid since 1947.