Bangkok Post - November 24, 2004
Achara Ashayagachat

The Thaksin government needs to match its words with deeds after its promise of technical assistance and cooperation to African states under the South-South cooperation banner.

But perhaps Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had forgotten that his foreign minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, was to proclaim 2004 Africa Year when he told the Beijing-sponsored Boao Forum in April - in explaining the relevance of the Thai-created Asia Cooperation Dialogue - that while Latin America has the United States to stand by its side and Africa has Europe, Asia must stand on its own

Whatever the case, Mr Surakiart is hoping to make amends - in a speech delivered in French, no less, which is seen by some as an effort to woo the the world's 53 Francophone nations (and three states) as part of his bid for the post of secretary-general of the United Nations when it falls vacant in 2006.

The minister and his staff have been working to get closer to Burkina Faso in West Africa and he has secured a seat as a guest of the host at the 10th Francophone summit currently taking place in the capital Ouagadougou.

Mr Surakiart is attending the ministerial meeting today but not tomorrow's meeting of national leaders. But it is still hoped he will be remembered by the Africans for future purposes.

The minister had also planned to attend the African Union meeting, also in Ouagadougou, in early September, and his ministry even distributed a press release proclaiming his presence would be of historic significance as Mr Surakiart would be the first representative from Asia to attend an AU summit.

The trip was cancelled at the last minute, reportedly due to rumours of a cabinet reshuffle after former chit fund operator Ekkayuth Anchanbutr threatened to name an unusually rich minister whose name begins with the initial "S". Although he could not attend the meeting, Mr Surakiart's statement on sustainable development was distributed to those at the meeting.

Burkina Faso a few months earlier was one of several African nations to endorse Mr Surakiart's hosting of a ministerial meeting among members of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue and the New Economic Partnership for African Development, the new integrated Africa vision for democratic and market-led economic growth.

Mr Thaksin himself has also put off several scheduled visits to Africa with the excuse that his crowded domestic and international calendar did not permit such a trip.

Asda Jayanama, the outspoken former Thai ambassador to the UN, said it was unfortunate that this government's early policy of building solidarity among developing countries as a bargaining tool with the richer Western bloc had not been pursued more wholeheartedly.

Thailand should be part of a multilateral framework in which it can call on the backing of African or Asian colleagues if so needed, Mr Asda said. But with any interest shown to Africa just part of building support for Mr Surakiart's UN ambitions, there is unlikely to yield satisfactory benefit in terms of tangible cooperation.

The ministerial conference on Alternative Development Sufficiency Economies held in Bangkok from Nov 8-10 and attended by 22 Africa countries, Iran, Afghanistan, Bhutan, China and Thailand's neighbours is being hailed by the Foreign Ministry as a success despite its heavy price tag and the tiring schedule for the majority Muslim delegates because of the Ramadan observance.

The high point for most delegates was an audience with His Majesty the King and the opportunity to see how His Majesty's subsistence philosophy has been put into fruitful effect in many parts of the country.

Follow-up activities are now needed, said a staff member of a multilateral body.

The Foreign Ministry's aid agency arm, the Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency, or TICA, is struggling to justify its budget request this year of 400-500 million baht and to give substance to the government's emphasis on Africa.

TICA, formerly the Department of Technical Economic Cooperation, has had around 20 million baht a year for scholarships and training for overseas visitors here, with the Africa quota included. Concrete activities are being identified by TICA and countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Uganda in key areas such as agricultural development, crop substitution for opium, public health, HIV/Aids, sanitation and education.

"We are now planning for outbound services, which are less expensive than bringing in trainees and are more practical due to real implementation with wider coverage," said TICA deputy head Apinan Phatarathiyanon.

Due to limited human and financial resources, the technical assistance can only be offered to states where the Thai private sector is active in fisheries, gem mining, construction and tourism.

Business talks with government backing are to be re-invigorated, and not only in tourism-heavy countries like South Africa and Mauritius. Also, official requests for Thai peace-keeping troops would be explored, one observer said.

Cooperation will be looked at with France, a key player in half the African continent, and Japan, an advocate of the UN-supported New Economic Partnership for African Development through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development since 1993, multilateral organisation sources said.

India is also a major investor from Asia in Africa, followed by Malaysia, China, Korea and Taiwan, with annual average foreign direct investment from 2000-2003 of $408 million (16.28 billion baht), $263 million (10.49 billion baht), $47 million (1.88 billion baht), $11 million (438 million baht) and $10 million (399 million baht), according to the Nov 1-2 Tokyo International Conference on African Development Asia-Africa Trade and Investment Conference in Tokyo.

Gradually, a few Thai companies are taking an interest in Africa including Thai Acrylic Fibre, which invested four billion baht last year in Egypt, and Thai Carbon Black, which is investing 520 million baht in a plastics and rubber project also in Egypt.

Japan, over the past 10 years, has injected 480 billion baht in overseas development assistance into African infrastructure development, agriculture, water, education, health and medical care, and debt reduction.

India has extended 40 billion baht in technical assistance and has pledged a $200 million (7.98 billion baht) credit line under the New Economic Partnership for African Development plus $500 million (19.95 billion baht) for West Africa alone and another $1.5 billion (59.9 billion baht) for HIV/Aids in Africa.

Malaysia has also played a major role on its own and with the Tokyo International Conference on African Development by setting up the Asia-Africa Investment Technology Promotion Centre in Kuala Lumpur in August 1998, hosting the first Africa-Asia Business Forum in 1999, and hosting the Asia-Africa Public-Private Joint Forum in May this year.

Beijing, like India, has its own path into Africa. The ministerial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was first held in Beijing in October 2000 with a high-level follow-up committee chaired by Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

China sent its first-ever peacekeeping troops under the UN banner to Congo and Liberia, and in June 2002 signed debt exemption protocols with 31 African nations cancelling 156 debts with a total value of 10.5 billion yuan (50.62 billion baht). Its bilateral trade with the continent grows year by year. In 2003 it reached $18.545 billion (739.9 billion baht), an increase of 49.7% over the previous year and approximately 75% over 2000. Beijing also boasts that 44% of its total foreign aid goes to Africa.

As Africa-veteran ambassador Shinsuke Horiuchi, adviser to the Japanese foreign minister, put it: "You should not expect them to pay back with immediate political support, say for Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. It's a bit of a costly investment.

"But we have a human obligation to stand by this long neglected continent, and true sincerity will certainly trickle down to a decent effect in the long-term."

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