Saturday, April 23 2005 11:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jakarta: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Apr 23, 2005) said despite accounting for over half of humanity, Asia and Africa did not have a commensurate voice in international institutions of the modern world.

"Democratisation of the United Nations and its specialised agencies must be a fundamental plank of our strategic partnership," Singh told leaders from over 100 countries in Jakarta attending the Asia Africa Summit and the Golden Jubilee of the Bandung Conference.

He noted that the people of the two continents accounted for half of humanity and represented a kaleidoscope of diverse cultures. The two continents also brought together most of the great religions of the world.

"The evolving global economy needs the guiding hand of a well-managed global polity to bring about an efficient and equitable management of global interdependence," he said.

To achieve these goals "our strategic partnership must be inspired by a common vision of globalisation based on maximising cooperative self reliance," Singh added.