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.