NAM Leaders Gather in Kuala Lumpur to Discuss Rrevitalization

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 24, 2003

NAM Leaders Gather in Kuala Lumpur to Discuss Rrevitalization

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Heads of state or government of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member countries gathered at the Putra World Trade Center in Kuala Lumpur Monday morning to open the 13th NAM Summit, which has a theme of continuing revitalization of the Movement.

Sixty three leaders from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean attended today's opening session. In total, 105 countries are represented at the session.

The 114-member organization was formally founded in 1961.

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, as outgoing chairman of NAM, declared the 13th NAM Summit open.

Then, he made a report on the progress of the Movement from September 1998 to February 2003.

He said, "Of importance, in the past decade, NAM has made significant advances at key global conferences cluminating in the historic Millennium Summit Declaration. In addition, the Havana South Summit formulated a comprehensive and focused agenda, which formed the basis for interaction with the developed countries of the North."

He said, "As we agreed at the World Summit for Sustainable Development, we need to urgently implement the Johannesburg Plan of Action so as to make a real difference to humanity."

The Movement has also intensified engagement with the countries of the North, he added.

The African region has developed the New Partnership for Africa's Development and for its success we need to intensify South-South cooperation.

He said, "Some had promised that the end of the Cold War just over a decade ago would lead to the birth of a new world order of freedom, justice, peace and prosperity for all.

"But what we have seen since then is a world torn apart by merciless conflicts that have devoured many human lives...."

He said, "As the first decade of the post-Cold War period progressed toward its close, member countries of our Movement, especially in this region, were hit by an economic crisis that destroyed or undermined great advances that had been made to improve the lives of the people."

"As the second decade of this new epoch began, millions elsewhere in the world, in Africa, had no choice but to sustain life by depending on international food aid, even as they had to contended with a burden of disease," he said.

"As we meet here, in this city and country that inspire hope throughout the countries of the South, the terrible promise of warhangs over the peoples of Iraq and the world. When and if it will break out we do not know. How many human casualties we also do notknow.

"but what we know is that if war does impose itself on humanity, it will claim many lives. It will increase instability in the Middle East and the world. It will deliver a deadly blow tothe poor of the world, who will have to bear the additional pain of growing impoverishment."

Mbeki, said, "Peace and stability in our countries and the restof the world demand that all of us, including those who are in comparably more powerful than we are, should respect the findings of the weapons inspectors and the decisions of the Security Councilfully and without reservation."

Surely, he said, "We must together make the statement that we do not want war. But we must also make the statement that neither we want weapons of mass destruction."

"Both these positions have defined the purpose of our Movement since its early dawn in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955," he said. "Wecannot now seek to redefine ourselves in this regard."

Mbeki urged Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries to take very seriously and act consistently to implement the vision of South-South cooperation, as well as the determination to act together asthey negotiate global agreements with the North.

He said, "We dare not allow the global consensus to recede to the periphery of the world agenda, that the eradication of povertyis an urgent and immediate international task, and that the means exist to achieve this goal."

"Our obligation to defend what we stand for requires that we reassert and vigorously defend our commitment to the peaceful resolution of international conflicts," and the NAM countries mustnot hesitate to act to ensure such peaceful resolution, even in instances that affect its member states, he said.

He said, "It demands of us that we do everything we can to protect and advance the principle and practice of multilateralism,against the tendency towards unilateralism. This requires that we fight even harder for the democratization of the international system of governance."

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