NAM meeting 'optimistic'

NAM meeting 'optimistic'

By Santi WE Soekanto

BANDUNG (JP): Representatives of 97 member states of the Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) ended their first of three days of meetings by focussing closely on economics and development.

Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Alatas, who presided over the meeting, said that a "beneficial exchange of views" took place among members, especially regarding the "Agenda for Development" report submitted last year by United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

The report, which has been discussed by an ad hoc working group of members of the G-77 countries in New York, would be further examined today, Alatas said.

The underlying atmosphere of the discussions yesterday was that of optimism about the future of the movement's campaign for better cooperation between the developing countries in the South and the industrialized ones in the North.

In his opening speech, Alatas praised the Movement's increasing effectiveness in its campaign for closer ties among the developing countries themselves.

"NAM has managed to reinvigorate the North-South dialog, broadened South-South cooperation, particularly in such areas as food security, population...and the external debt crisis," he said.

"These would not have been possible without the positive response of the developed countries and of some international financial institutions concerned with development," he said.

The heartening response that the Movement had been receiving was "confirmation of the efficacy of the new approaches and the new orientation" that the movement adopted at the 1992 Jakarta Summit, he said.

NAM now no longer indulges in "acrimonious recitations of grievances and demands," Alatas said. Instead, it now sought constructive dialog and offered "to engage the developed countries in equal and equitable cooperation in all fields".

"We are working much more effectively now with the G-77 through our Joint Coordinating Committee...(we have) been at the forefront of efforts to restructure, revitalize and further democratize the United Nations."

Center

In the meeting yesterday, Indonesia suggested that the movement take the concrete step of establishing a center for South-South cooperation.

Indonesia also suggested that the movement establish a network among members interested in building more specific, technical cooperation in various fields.

Alatas said several attending countries had supported Indonesia's proposals and he hoped that they would be adopted as one of the meeting's final results.

There was also discussion yesterday on details such as the Movement's plan to approach the United Nations and other international agencies to help realize NAM's commitment to better cooperation.

"Hopefully these will all come out in the final Communique of the meeting," he said.

Alatas said the Movement was now convinced that this coopera tion is the right approach, because the Seven Most Industrialized Countries of the World responded positively to the NAM Chairman's Invitation to Dialog.

"I feel there is sufficient basis for optimism, but it must be a guarded optimism, one that is conditioned by our own dynamism and enterprise," he said.

The meeting also discussed yesterday debt management strategies that Indonesia has been campaigning for, and the movement chairman's account of NAM's activities in the past year.

The ministers decided to accept Russia as a guest member of NAM, but left it to the coming meeting of the NAM coordinating bureau in New York to discuss the wish of Macedonia to become a guest member. The bureau is expected to also decide on the membership applications of Turkmenistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Today's meeting will focus on the international political situation, including the armed-conflicts ravaging Bosnia- Herzegovina and Palestine and a number of other issues pertaining to Middle Eastern countries.

The ministers are also scheduled to discuss the contentious issues of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and reform of the United Nations, as well as preparations for the transfer of NAM's leadership from Indonesia to Colombia in October.