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NAM: A unique forum

By Amit Baruah

KUALA LUMPUR Feb. 24. It is the largest assembly of nations outside the United Nations. It is big and diverse, but all the leaders, assembled in Kuala Lumpur for the 13th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, have one thing in common — they are from the developing world.

They have started arriving in droves since last night — Kings, Princes, Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers — are all in attendance in this 116-strong grouping. One of the two new members is Timor Leste (the new name for East Timor).

In all, 63 Heads of State/Government are attending the summit. Needless to say, North America and Europe are missing. But, in these days where world affairs, including international conferences, are dominated by North America and Europe, the NAM remains a unique forum.

Imagine an international conference without the Americans, the British, the Canadians, the Japanese, the French, and the Australians. You need to look no further than the NAM. There's been a raging debate on the revitalisation of the NAM — the theme of the current summit meeting.

Given its vast nature, the NAM cannot operate like a structured grouping, because it is cross-region and cross-continent. A brainchild of Jawaharlal Nehru, Norodom Sihanouk, Sukarno and Tito, the NAM was to be the vehicle to further the process of de-colonisation and act as a check on the one-time imperialist nations.

At best, it could be a forum for articulating the concerns of the developing world.

Information exchange, which could lead to common positions on issues such as global trade, could be a good way to cement these ties.

Here, at the Putra World Trade Centre, where the summit got under way today, there was not much response from the large Western media networks which would usually be present in great number at forums like the APEC and the ASEAN in this part of the world. This is not to say that developing countries speak in one voice, or that developed nations don't utilise these differences to further their interests in trade and other matters.

But, if the NAM conferences are to be relevant, `multi-polar world' needs to be more than just a slogan in the speeches.

The NAM needs to take into account the churning process that America's drive for a war against Iraq has generated in Europe and even in the U.S. If multi-polarity is to be real, then the NAM nations must identify themselves with anti-war protesters and countries such as France and Germany, which are out of sync with Washington after a generation and more.

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