Soeharto opens NAM summit
By Rikza Abdullah
CARTAGENA DE INDIAS, Colombia (JP): President Soeharto ended his chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) yesterday with a strong appeal to all 113 members to continue the group's present efforts to strive for a new world order.
Soeharto opened the 11th NAM summit yesterday with a progress report on the programs pursued during his three-year tenure, before he handed the chairmanship over to Colombian President Ernesto Samper Pizano.
He emphasized that for the last three years NAM has been working towards the establishment of a new world order that is based on the principles of social justice, welfare and peace.
This objective was mandated when the Indonesian leader assumed NAM's chairmanship at the last summit in Jakarta in 1992.
Soeharto said NAM should pursue the dialog between the wealthy countries of the North and the developing countries of the South with vigor, as well as the intensification of South-South cooperation, both major items on NAM's agenda for the past three years.
He also warned about growing pressure from industrialized countries which is creating new economic predicaments for developing nations.
Ninety-five of NAM's 113 members are represented at the summit which is held at the Centro de Convenciones in this Colombian resort town overlooking the Carribean Ocean. At least 50 countries are represented by their heads of government.
Soeharto flew on board a special Garuda Indonesia DC-10 to Cartagena on Tuesday from the Mexican city of Cancun, where he had a 24-hour stay after the long flight across the Pacific from Jakarta.
His entourage includes First Lady Mrs. Tien Soeharto and Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono. Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas has been here for the last two days to attend the NAM ministerial meetings.
From the Rafael Nunez airport, Soeharto was whisked in a heavily guarded motorcade to the Cartagena Hilton hotel, where he will stay for the next four days.
Soeharto also said in his speech that NAM had established cooperation among its members in several areas, including food production, family planning and debt management, in the last three years.
He pointed out that NAM's initiative to establish a North- South dialog to strengthen economic cooperation has since been adopted into a United Nations resolution.
NAM's "quiet diplomacy" also contributed to the historic signing of an agreement between North Korea, a NAM member, and the United States to ease tension on the Korean peninsula, he added.
Soeharto said much work stills need to be done by NAM.
He listed the debt problems that are strangling the poorest countries in the world as one area that requires NAM's attention.
While some industrialized countries have agreed to reduce the bilateral and commercial debts of some of the least developed countries, Soeharto noted that none of them have heeded NAM's call for a reduction in multilateral debts. "It's even impossible to get their multilateral debts rescheduled."
He also urged NAM to fight off the increasing tendency on the part of the industrial countries to attach conditions, such as labor, human rights and environmental criteria, to their financial assistance.
Soeharto has also begun conducting bilateral meetings with other leaders present at the summit.
The first of these was Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao on Tuesday afternoon.
Moerdiono told reporters that during the meeting, Soeharto agreed to Rao's proposal for India to establish an earth station in Irian Jaya to monitor the orbit of an Indian telecommunications satellite that will be launched soon.
He was scheduled to meet Philippine President Fidel Ramos, Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Said al-Sahaf and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati yesterday.
In the evening, the heads of the delegations were to attend a dinner at the Casa de Fuerte de San Juan Manzalino, the presidential guest house. The delegates were to be transported on board the ARC Gloria training vessel from Cartagena Naval Base.
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