NAM endorses Indonesia's views as discussion basis

NAM endorses Indonesia's views as discussion basis

By Oei Eng Goan

CAIRO (JP): Foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) endorsed Indonesia's reports and views on the movement's
activities since it assumed chairmanship in 1992 as a basis for
talks in their eleventh meeting, the Indonesian chief delegate
Nana Sutresna said here yesterday.

"The reports and analyses of the chairman of NAM have been
accepted by member countries and discussions in the on-going
ministerial conference will focus on four main issues covering
the restructuring of the United Nations, nuclear disarmament,
international economic cooperation for development and
environmental preservation, as well as social development and
human rights," Nana told a group of Indonesian journalists in the
Egyptian capital.

Nana, who is also head executive assistant to the NAM
chairman, currently President Soeharto of Indonesia, presented
the report to the first plenary session of NAM's 11th ministerial
meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting, held at the Cairo International Conference Center
which towers over the new buildings of the prestigious Al-Azhar
University, has brought together 111 delegations from NAM member
countries.

A draft of the final document was made available to
journalists yesterday, but the adoption of the document will take
place on Friday, the closing day of the four-day conference
during which the next venue for NAM's summit is expected to be
announced.

The draft states among other things that the foreign ministers
agreed that the movement has to adopt an approach which is
capable of accommodating the broad spectrum of its members
interests and intensify all forms of cooperation.

They also called on member states to devote more of their
resources to NAM activities and concurred on the importance of
closer and systematic links among member countries.

They recommended the role of the high-working group on the
reform and restructuring of the UN as setbacks had occurred in
some warring areas where UN resolutions remain unimplemented and
that the Security Council had subjected itself to accusations of
employing double standards in settling different conflicts.

The ministers agreed that such situations should be remedied
without delay and that reform of the UN should solve these
problems.

They reiterated the need for a balanced relationship between
the UN General Assembly and the Security Council so as to
establish dynamic interactions between the assembly and the
council.

The ministers considered that both reform and restructuring of
the UN Security Council, including its decision-making process,
should be examined as an integral part of a common package.

On UN peacekeeping forces, NAM ministers expressed their
conviction that these operations should never be regarded as
substitutes for the political settlement of disputes and that
they should be of a temporary nature.

The document reiterates the call by NAM on all parties in the
Middle East to take urgent and practical steps towards the
establishment of a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in the region and
that Israel has to renounce nuclear weapons and accede to the
Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Touching on international economic cooperation, the ministers
noted that there are few convincing signs for global recovery and
that expectations for greater global security and economic order
have not been realized.

They stressed that the new agreements and rules emanating from
the Uruguay Round should be translated into increased market
access and expansion of world trade and better employment
opportunities world wide, particularly for developing nations.

On environment and human rights issues, the ministers
reaffirmed their commitment to foster a balanced and integrated
approach to sustainable development as reflected in the Rio
Declaration in June 1992 and that human rights should not be used
as political instruments, especially against NAM member
countries.

Yesterday's meeting, which was chaired by Egypt's Foreign
Minister Amr Moussa and held behind closed doors, was longer than
scheduled. The sessions had to be continued through the evening.

"Although the agenda of the meeting has been adopted, there
are countries which still raised issues that deviate from topics
already agreed," Nana said without identifying the names of the
countries.

He added, however, that the ministerial conference, which was
opened by President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday, will be concluded
as scheduled as many member countries from Africa will have to
attend the meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).