Panchsheel and Afro-Asian Cooperation

Abstract

Before the principles of peaceful coexistence were discussed at Bandung they figured at the conferences of Colombo and Bogor. At the invitation of the Prime Minister of Ceylon, Sir John Kotelawala, his colleagues from Burma, India, Indonesia and Pakistan joined him at Colombo during the last week of April, 1954. In his autobiography Sir John wrote that originally he did not intend to include Indonesia but was persuaded by the argument that its cultural and political background was similar to that of the four former British colonies.¹ It happened to be the Indonesian Prime Minister, Ali Sastroamidjojo, who put forward the idea of holding a conference of Asian and African nations, which later was embodied in one of the conclusions, requesting the Indonesian representative to explore the possibilities of such a meeting.²