Reorienting NAM in the 1990s (1)

Reorienting NAM in the 1990s (1)

Followings are excerpts of a paper presented by Indonesian
Ambassador-at-Large Nana S. Sutresna who is also head executive
assistant to the NAM Chairman at an international seminar
sponsored by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies in
Colombo, Sri Lanka, from Jan. 27 to 29.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: At the Tenth NAM Summit in 1992 in
Jakarta, the Leaders of the Movement made their choice. They gave
the realities of the world situation the clear-sighted and
rational assessment that is the necessary prelude to resolute and
effective action. They then declared that, as a political
coalition representing more sovereign states than any other
grouping in history, the Movement should not be a mere spectator
and should not resign itself to being sidelined in the currents
of historic change. The movement, they stressed, must dynamically
adapt to these currents by setting new priorities and reordering
old ones, by devising new approaches and new strategies.

Acknowledging that stereotyped responses would fall short of
the demands of the time and that the mere cataloging of
grievances, anxieties and hopes would be an exercise in futility,
the Movement proceeded to craft the concepts and modalities that
would be the basis and the framework of the concrete programs to
which the members would commit themselves. At the same time it
girded itself for a vigorous advocacy that would place the views
and concrete proposals of the Movement into the mainstream of
international thought and action. Knowing that the Movement
cannot increase the effectiveness of its external action if it
cannot improve the efficiency of its internal functioning, the
NAM Leaders also felt that they must attend to important
housekeeping tasks such as the establishment of effective
organizational mechanisms, guidelines and procedures. And they
stipulated that all these should be done on the basis and within
the framework of NAM's fundamental principles and purposes which
have lost nothing of their validity and relevance, even in
today's vastly changed world.

Without neglecting to address the political concerns that have
gripped the world and continues to grip the world today, the NAM
Leaders took one of the most significant decisions that they have
taken in a long time: they decided to restore the issue of economic
cooperation to the top of the Movement's agenda.

Much was accomplished during that Summit, but perhaps its
greatest single accomplishment is not reflected in the decisions
taken nor in the resolutions passed, but in the fact that when its
Leaders emerged from their deliberations, whatever doubts might have
lingered before the Summit about the relevance of the Movement had
completely vanished. The Movement came out of the Summit
reinvigorated, strengthened in its resolve and clear in its
purposes. Many international observers who were habitually skeptical
of the Movement might have been pleasantly surprised; for the first
time they observed a Non-Aligned Summit that was not acrimoniously
dwelling on grievances but was instead seeking a constructive
dialog and offering to engage the developed world in cooperation
in all fields. This became known as the NAM's new orientation,
its new approach to solving the interlinked global problems of
our time. The old approach which was dogmatic and adversarial had
not worked and so the NAM Leaders decided that it be abandoned.
At the same time, they committed themselves to giving this new
and flexible approach ample chance to work.

The application of that new approach is never more evident than
in the Movement's current advocacy and pursuit of a global North-
South partnership as well as an intensified South-South cooperation
for development. Soon after convening a meeting of the Standing
Ministerial Committee for Economic Cooperation in Bali in May 1993
to thresh out ways and means of moving the North-South and South-
South processes forward, President Soeharto, as NAM Chairman, seized
the opportunity to extend the Movement's "Invitation to Dialogue"
to the Leaders of the Group of Seven on the event of their Summit
Meeting in Tokyo. The positive response of the Leaders of G-7 to
our Movement's offer of cooperation and constructive dialog,
which they articulated at the conclusion of the Tokyo Summit and
then again after the Group's Summit in Napoli the following year,
has since been carried further by the NAM. Working with the Group
of 77 and other like-minded countries, including developed
countries, the NAM initiated a draft resolution entitled, Renewal
of the Dialogue on Strengthening International Cooperation for
Development through Partnership. That the resolution was adopted
by consensus clearly indicates that the international community
supports the basic strategy of the NAM for achieving a new and
more just international economic order.

An important aspect of the resolution was a request to the
Secretary-General to present the forty-ninth session of the United
Nations General Assembly with recommendation on how the
envisioned North-South dialog could be promoted in a way which
would reflect the ongoing work on an Agenda for Development. In
this regard, the Secretary-General has issued his report on An
Agenda for Development which we hope will bolster the prospects
for balanced global economic growth. Our NAM Coordinating Bureau,
working with the Group of 77, is playing an active role in the
deliberations on that Agenda. The NAM is also very much involved
in high level discussions in the General Assembly to spell out
further how the North-South dialog should be conducted. In this
process, the Movement has once again shown a pragmatism and a
flexibility that have struck a positive chord among its intended
dialog partners. For example, the Movement has made it known that
it is ready and willing to dialog on matters of common interest
with the developed countries of the North in any forum which is
mutually acceptable. This is a far cry from the position it had
assumed some years ago that it would only engage in dialog in
certain specific forums.

The same kind of pragmatism and flexibility could govern the
approaches of the Member Countries of the Movement to
international financial institutions. In contrast, many Member
Countries used to apply a double standard in dealing with these
institutions: they regarded these institutions as political
disagreeable, but bilaterally, none of these countries could do
without these institutions. We the countries in the Non-Aligned
Movement are probably making greater use of these institutions
today with this difference: because of our non-confrontational,
cooperative approach, there has been no occasion for us to
antagonize them politically. I believe this will work well for
the international financial institutions and for the Movement
knowing that Non-Aligned Countries have no political agenda that
is adverse to them, the international financial institutions
might indeed become more receptive to the views of NAM members.

A start has thus been made in redefining the relationship
between the developing countries in the Movement with the
international financial institutions. I think that this should be
followed through with a concerted effort on the part of NAM
countries to take active part in the forthcoming review of the
Bretton Woods institutions. It is important that developing
countries, such as the NAM membership should be able to arrive at a
common approach on how to improve the efficacy and efficiency of
these institutions which, after all, have a special role to play in
the South-South process. The NAM is mindful of the fact that many
projects of great merit within the framework of South-South
cooperation could have withered on the vine if it were not for a
third party, often an international financial institution, which
came to the rescue.

Cognizant of the reality of the intertwined fate and
fortunes of the North and the South and realizing fully that we
are entering a new era after the end of the Cold War, we are all
confronted by the imperative need to make mutual adjustments. For
its part, the Non-Aligned Movement has gone the "extra mile" in
order to make the appropriate adjustments by adopting an entirely
new orientation community and with international institutions.
This, I believe, is no mean contribution to the relaunching of a
more earnest and effective global dialog. The responses to this
radical change in style has not at all been discouraging.

There is a growing recognition on the part of some of the major
developed countries that the NAM has indeed adopted a moderate
approach and is now greatly imbued with the spirit of concialition
and cooperation. Some governments in the West have even shown a
greater appreciation of the goals that the Movement is trying to
achieve. What seems to be lacking, however, is that there is no
corresponding reappraisal of the NAM by the international media,
particularly those that are based in Western countries. This is a
concern that I feel the NAM should address seriously in the days
ahead to that the new orientation and approaches taken by the NAM
would finally be reflected in the media of those countries so that
there would be more vigorous public opinion support for these
governments in cooperating with and supporting the goals of the
NAM.

Meanwhile, South-South cooperation within the Movement has
indeed broadened and intensified since the Tenth Summit. The NAM
addressed the problem of hunger through an Ad Hoc Advisory Group
of Experts which has submitted a proposed Action Program that was
adopted by the Conference of the Ministers of Food and
Agriculture of the Non-Aligned Movement and other developing
countries held in Bali last October.

Also being implemented within the framework of South-South
cooperation is the NAM initiative on the issue of population. A
group of experts has likewise been put to work making in-depth
studies on this issue and their recommendations have been
submitted. One of the results of this effort is a report titled
NAM Support for South-South Collaboration in the Field of
Population and Family Planning which is based on Indonesia's
experience.