AFRICAN-ASIAN TALKS HAVE TWIN AIMS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27632, 13 April 1955, Page 10

AFRICAN-ASIAN TALKS HAVE TWIN AIMS

Political Freedom And Economic Aid

(NJZ. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, April 12. Economic development,, capital investment and trade will be important aspects of discussions at the 29-nation AfricanAsian conference opening on April 18, in Java. Many of the nations at the week-long talks are dissatisfied with their present economic plight and are anxious to encourage European and American technical help and capital investment in their economic development projects. But at the same time they are determined not to jeopardise their political freedom, in some cases only newly won. How to harmonise these two aims, possibly but not necessarily in conflict, will be a basic underlying thought in the minds of many of the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers at the talks.

Besides the two Communist governments—China and North Vietnam —at the conference, all the other countries have, directly or indirectly, close economic, fiscal and trading ties with the Western world. India, Pakistan and Ceylon, for example, are full members of the sterling area, the largest trading unit in the world. Others, like Japan, get direct United States economic assistance. Twelve of the governments are members of the £2,000,000,000 six-year Colombo Plan for the economic development of South and South-east Asia. The plan was initiated by the British Commonwealth at Colombo in January, 1950. The countries providing economic aid are Australia, Canada. New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Observers expect the conference to discuss questions of agricultural and industrial development and labour problems. The discussions are likely to include views on President Truman’s ‘‘Point Four” aid plan, and the work of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (G.A.T.T.) and United Nations agencies like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East. China Seeks Trade Communist China, which is being represented by Mr Chou En-lai, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, may make a strong plea for greater trade between his country and neighbouring nations. The new Japanese government of Mr Ichiro Hatoyama wants to normalise relations with Russia and Communist China and trade with Peking if possible. Ceylon already imports rice and exports rubber to China, but trade with Peking is severely limited by the United Nations embargo on strategic goods enforced during the Korean war. Japan has a big textiles market in South-east Asia and very substantial trade in other commodities, with countries like Pakistan. Observers expect many of the Middle East and Asian representatives at Bandung to have separate bilateral talks on increasing trade between their countries., The conference may set up a committee of experts to consider economic questions of common interest to the various nations, from Turkey to Japan, attending the talks. The five Colombo Powers—lndia. Pakistan, Ceylon, Burma and Indonesia—which have convened the Bandung meeting, lay great emphasis on development of the economically backward areas. They feel that economic development requires a planned approach for effective utilisation of the available resources. An essential prerequisite of such an aproach is full knowledge of these vast resources, most of them untapped. The conference is likely to emphasise that surveys of physical resources, particularly of the mineral and sub-soil wealth of each country, should be conducted. Co-operation in the supply of technical personnel and in other ways should be made available. The nations at the Bandung meeting, the first of its kind in history, are: India, Ceylon. Burma, Pakistan, Indonesia. Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gold Coast, Persia, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Laos. Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Nepal, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria. Siam, Turkey, North Vietnam, South Vietnam and the Yemen.