Bundung Conference (Asian-African Conference),1955

The Bundung Conference, held in the Capital city of Java in Indonesia on 18 April 1955 and attended by historical leaders like Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, Indian Prime Minister Jawahral Nehru, Egyptian President Abdul Nasser and King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia at the invitation of President Soekarno, was a land mark in the history of united non-alignment movement of the Third World Countries of the World. It was then dubbed as "the greatest gathering of all times."This historic conference of Bundung of 1955, in Indonesia, will be remembered as the first step to the non- aligned movement (NAM) of the decolonized peoples of Asia and Africa.
NAM is an organisation of more than 100 states which do not consider themselves aligned to any major power and it meets at summit level once in every three years.
As President Hu Jintao of China and President APJ Abdul Kalam of India make the historic trip, joined by an impressive group of Third World leaders, Bundung holds significance today for four reasons from an Asian perspective not only for similarities with 1955 but also for the diffrences.
1. It hoisted the flag of the Afro-Asian countries,
2. Asia with its strong economic bases stands at the centre of Afro-Asian Countries,
Economic growth of India nad China only 4 percent each of the world economy, but today, their combined economies amount to 20 percent.
China's economic growth for the last 15 years has been above 8 p.c. whereas that of india is 7 p.c.
3. Bundung in 2005 was again celebrated as the "rise of the decolonised world"
4. Lastly as South-south cooperation develops for the last 50 years with the 5 Asian Countries, like China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan, as leaders to fulfil the Asiand dreams.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will attend 50th. anniversary.