Winds of Change: Non Aligned Movement gets purposeful.

Kuala Lumpur: 24 February 2003. The Non Aligned Movement has been little more than a talking shop for several decades. It claims, as its principal achievement, to have been instrumental in the reduction in colonialism, but even that is open to question as it has been individual governments and their populations that have been the principle driver. It has received little attention from the media and even the Kuala Lumpur summit at which 111 nations are represented by their heads of state or heads of government has received little attention internationally: out of around 2000 media expected at the event, some 700 are foreign - and some countries have sent many: India, for example, has 40 members of the media here. AP, Reuters, Agence France Presse have around half a dozen each - which is a poor turnout for such mighty agencies .

The Media Pool for the Ministerial Meeting on 22 February was characterised by rows of empty chairs. Press conferences during the Senior Officers Meeting were dominated by domestic media and by repeated questions, by both domestic and foreign journalists, about whether NAM would condemn Israel and state a position on Iraq and on North Korea. That NAM proper had not even begun demonstrated the general ignorance about the role and purpose of NAM.

They have missed the point, as delegates have been determined to point out.

Opening the Ministerial meeting, Dr Nkosazana Clarice Dlaminizuma South Africa's foreign minister made it plain that NAM does not intend to be a breakaway movement from the UN. She said that only by working within the UN could NAM members make a difference. Malaysia's Prime Minister-elect Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi echoed that view saying that NAM members speaking with one voice can shape the world in such difficult times as at present.

Importantly, Dlaminizuma emphasised that NAM supports the UN in demanding that Iraq comply with the UN resolutions. NAM is clearly not a rebellious organisation, merely one which has found an importance in unifying those that are rarely heard.

Badawi drew particular attention to the problems of povery reduction, debt relief and sustainable development. The draft Final Statement, already running to some 80 pages, contains much on these topics. And on the funding of the UN. Ministers again and again refer to the "parlous" state of the UN as a result of the failure of what the draft final Declaration calls "its largest contributor" to meet its obligations.

Kuala Lumpur is awaiting the arrival of Fidel Castro - and the NAM final Declaration will repeat NAM's frequent calls for the USA to abandon its unilateral sanctions against Cuba, citing the economic, social and cultural effects of the Helms-Burton Act, largely originated to show the UN that the USA does not need its support to impose sanctions. NAM will announce that its next summit will be held in Cuba: and the expectation is that Cuba will follow Malaysia as the next country to chair NAM. And to underscore the point, the next Conference of the parties to the UNCCD will be held in Havana from 25 August to 5 September 2003.

NAM's final Declaration will condemn "certain countries" for passing and enforcing laws with extra-territorial effect. The statement will say that NAM recognised "the right of all States to determine freely their own political, economic and social system" and condemns "the continued application by certain countries of extra-territorial measures and legislation, and their imposition of unilateral coercive measures against certain developing countries." It reaffirms that no State may use or encourage the use of economic, political or any other type of measures to coerce another State...with the view to preventing those countries from the exercise of their right to determine, of their total free will, their own political, economic and social system."

Without naming anyone, the comments are a clear swipe at the Financial Action Task Force, the OECD and the USA (as a result of Helms-Burton and the USA PATRIOT Act amongst others).

Many NAM members are plagued by commercial and official corruption. It would be impossible to agree a statement that undermined incumbent governments and so the Final Declaration will avoid direct use of pejorative language. But its meaning will be clear clear when it says "foreign direct investment is crucial for the economies of Members...reiterating the importance of promoting and abiding by the principles of good corporate governance by both the foreign investors and host governments... there should be ... obligations by foreign investors to make decisions that take into account the interest of host countries and abide by the law and regulation of those countries."

The wind that blew through Kuala Lumpur on 23 February was a light breeze in comparison to the revitalisation of the Non Aligned Movement which began a year ago, has resulted in this Summit being coincidentally held at a time of great international tension affecting several members and which will continue apace under the chairmanship of Malaysia.