NAM supports Bogor Declaration

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) have welcomed, and given their support to, the recently proclaimed Bogor Declaration of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, a top diplomat said yesterday.

The executive assistant of the chairman of NAM, Nana Sutresna, said that NAM's 111 member countries have responded favorably to the results of the Nov. 15 APEC economic leaders meeting in Bogor.

"From the reaction I received they have given a very positive response to the Bogor Declaration," Nana told a seminar on Indonesia, after the APEC and NAM conferences, organized by the Dr. Soetomo Press Institute.

He explained that in recent meetings with fellow NAM members in New York, the results of the APEC meeting were warmly welcomed.

During their meeting in Bogor, APEC leaders agreed to set a deadline for comprehensive trade and investment liberalization by the year 2010 for industrialized countries and 2020 for developing ones.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.

As well as presiding over this year's APEC meting, Indonesia is also chairman of NAM and has one-year to go before it relinquishes the chair to Columbia in 1995.

Apart from Indonesia, six other countries -- Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Singapore -- are members of both APEC and NAM.

Nana explained that one of the reasons for the support is that the decisions contained within the Bogor declaration are in line with the aspirations of NAM, such as in areas of development cooperation and the North-South dialog.

"Addressing issues of global economic disparity is one of NAM's challenges," he said.

Reviewing the revitalized role of NAM since the Jakarta summit of 1992, Nana noted that the Western media was still persistent in its obsolete perception of NAM.

He argued that NAM had shed its confrontational and rhetorical manner of the past and has now embarked on a cooperative approach focusing on economic development.

"(Even) the leaders of the developed countries have begun to appreciate our new approach but they are not being backed-up by public opinion," he said, adding that the "international press has not come to the same appreciation."

Overall, Nana acknowledged that Indonesia's hosting of APEC and the chairmanship of NAM has boosted the country's international image.

He also said Indonesia's election as a non-permanent of the United Nations Security Council is living proof of NAM member countries' support for the Jakarta government.

Indonesia will serve as a non-permanent member in the Security Council for the 1995-1996 period beginning Jan. 1, 1995. (mds)