Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Conference, 1957


The 1957 African Asian Peoples' Solidarity Conference, also known as the "Cairo Conference", was held from December 26, 1957 to January 1, 1958 in Cairo, Egypt. Participants discussed international cooperation and geopolitics. This conference reaffirmed the ten principles from the Bandung Conference and added four more exclusive principles, mostly about nuclear affairs.
The conference created the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization, which represents itself, as described in its later Constitution from the 1988 Delhi Conference, as a "mass solidarity movement of the peoples of Africa and Asia in the common struggle for the elimination of injustices to the people". This objective helps satisfy the "consolidation of genuine independence and the defense of sovereignty against racist policies to ensure economic security for the right to choose their way of socio-economic development, for the promotion of national culture, for a non-violent world and general disarmament, international security, and lasting peace".

Background

The Cairo Conference took place two years after the Bandung Conference which was held to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism or neocolonialism committed by any nation. It took place at the beginning of the Cold War era. The 1957 Cairo Conference hosted many representatives of Soviet-allied states.
The conference was organized by an Egyptian Committee under Anwar Sadat's leadership with most preparations overseen by the Conference Secretary, Egyptian writer Yusuf Al-Sibai. The Committee chose the themes to be discussed in the conference and was in charge of soliciting relevant participants.

Participants

The Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Conference in Cairo hosted 607 participants from the following countries:
The Conference was planned in three sections:
The commissions were divided into two groups: the Political Commission and the Economic Commission.

The Political Commission

The Political Commission was divided into five subcommittees:
The Economic Commission was divided into three sub-commissions:
It is important to note that there was another small commission about culture.

Outcomes of the Conference

The first outcome of the Conference was the creation of the Solidarity Council of the Afro-Asian Countries. The Council's name was changed to Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization at a subsequent conference in Conakry, Guinea in April 1960. This council is permanently based in Cairo, Egypt.
The AAPSO accepted three main tasks:
Resolutions and recommendations from the Conference in 1957 were used to establish the Constitution of the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization in 1988. The objectives of the organization include: