Colombia summit to endorse NAM action programs

Colombia summit to endorse NAM action programs

By Rikza Abdullah

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS, Colombia (JP): A declaration to be
endorsed by the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) will
guarantee the implementation of the group's programs,
particularly those on cooperation among developing countries,
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said yesterday.

"The operation in the near future of NAM's Center for South-
South Technical Cooperation in Indonesia will enable the movement
to formulate concrete programs on cooperation among developing
nations," Alatas said on Thursday, on the eve of the conclusion
of NAM's three-day summit.

The declaration, to be read at the summit's closing session on
Friday, is expected to include the details of tasks that must be
carried out by the new center, he said.

Alatas said a plan on the establishment of the center was
approved at NAM's 10th summit in Jakarta in 1992 and that the
current summit has drafted details of its programs.

"The center, therefore, can be established and start
operations in the near future," he said.

The center will also become a forum for the preparation of
further action programs for South-South cooperation, he added.

The draft declaration reads: "They (NAM leaders) welcomed the
establishment of the Center for South-South Technical Cooperation
in Indonesia as one of the vital and effective means for
promoting and enhancing development in developing countries."

Alatas said the NAM leaders had also agreed on the promotion
and strengthening of Technical Cooperation among Developing
Countries (TCDC) programs to encourage systematic exchanges of
information and experience in development matters, as well as in
relation to financing and technical support from donor countries
and international organizations.

The draft declaration, which was expected to be endorsed with
minor revisions, said that both developing and developed
countries, as well as multilateral and international
organizations, should take advantage of the resources offered by
the center.

"Thus, the programs prepared and approved at the Jakarta
summit will be followed up and implemented in the coming years in
spite of the change of NAM's chairmanship," Alatas said.

Indonesia is also committed to fully supporting the success of
NAM's programs, even though it is no longer chairman, he added.

He said that the programs approved so far cover South-South
cooperation, debt problems, reactivating North-South dialog and
the advancement of women.

NAM's high-level working group on the restructuring and reform
of the United Nations has also been very active in the last three
years, Alatas said.

Meanwhile, Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said that
several NAM leaders who held separate meetings with President
Soeharto on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday urged
Indonesia to help see through the implementation of NAM's
programs, despite the fact that it no longer chairs the
organization.

Among the leaders who met with Soeharto on Thursday were
Vietnamese President Le Duc Anh, Mali Prime Minister Keita
Ibrahim Boubacar, Algerian President Liamine Zeroual, Liberian
President Alhaji Kromah, Guyana President Cheddi B. Jagan and
Guinea Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

Soeharto also met with North Korean Vice President Park Song
Chol, Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam and the chairman
of the South Center, Julius Nyerere.

President Soeharto was scheduled to leave Cartagena for New
York on Friday to attend the 50th anniversary commemorative
meeting of the UN General Assembly, which begins tomorrow.

Soeharto is also scheduled to meet with U.S. President Clinton
at the White House on Oct. 27.