JAKARTA, April 20 -- China is expected to play a balancing role in the present international order, an Iranian diplomat said Monday.

"We are looking forward to a better world where power is shared by many countries...Everybody will welcome the role of China in making a balance in the international order," Jooyabad, member of the Iranian delegation to the Asian-African summit here, told Xinhua.

He made the remarks on the sidelines of the Asian-African Ministerial Meeting held ahead of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference, also known as the Bandung Conference.

The key issues that representatives from many countries have gathered here to discuss are "growth, development and removing poverty," Jooyabad said.

Development is a common concern for different countries in Asia and Africa, he said, adding given their varying levels of development, their focuses differ, some on industrial development, some on attracting more foreign investment and some on agriculture- related issues.

But it is a shared view that the "Bandung spirit", with solidarity, friendship and cooperation at the core, should be carried on in the new era, a manifestation of which is to fight any new form of colonialism, Jooyabad stressed.