South African President Thabo Mbeki Friday expressed his hope that the second Asian-African Summit will help advance the cause pioneered by the leaders of Asia and Africa 50 years ago and consolidate the unity of the peoples of the two continents.

Since the Bandung conference was held in Bandung, Indonesia, 50years ago, progress has been made in realizing the goals set in Bandung, he said.

"A good number of our countries have made important strides towards building modern economies capable of incrementally meeting the goal of achieving a better life for the billions of people we represent," he said, adding significant strides have also made in South-South cooperation.

"We have built some of the institutional mechanisms we need to enable us to act together to achieve our common goals, including the African Union, its development program NEPAD, ASEAN and others," he said.

However, he said that African countries are still facing the challenge to eradicate poverty and under development.

He urged the leaders and representatives from over 100 countries and international organizations to work seriously to "give real meaning to the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership", which will be signed here Saturday, and give life to the vision that emanated from Bandung in 1955.

Indonesia and South Africa are co-chairs of the two-day Asian-African Summit and the commemoration of the golden jubilee of the Bandung Conference.

During the 1955 Bandung Conference, twenty-nine Asian and African countries joined hands in the fight against colonialism.

The conference resulted in the Ten Principles of Bandung which called for solidarity, friendship and cooperation among developing countries.

Source: Xinhua