Manmohan says NAM is a 'state of mind'

Havana,Sep 15: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here today for the 14th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, describing the movement as a ''state of mind'' and urging the 116-member grouping to live up to its new potential in a ''highly uncertain, insecure world.''

India and other like-minded member-countries will attempt to project a new and contemporary vision of the grouping to make it more relevant to the post-Cold War, post 9/11 era.

''Non-alignment is a state of mind, to think independently about our options, to widen our developmental choices,'' Dr Singh told journalists travelling with him on the flight from Brasilia to Havana.

''In that sense, non-alignment is as relevant today as it was before,'' he said.

''Soon after the end of the Cold war, there was a lot of complacence in the Western world, that we have reached the end of history, that capitalism had proved its superiority,'' the Prime Minister said.

''And now we find a new anxiety in the world, how to deal with the problem of terror, the role of the non-state actors. The future of humanity is being increasingly questioned and people are talking about a clash of civilisations, people have also been talking of evil empires,'' he said.

Against this background, he felt NAM could help build a new world order ''free from fear, war, want and poverty.'' The highlight of Dr Singh's stay in Havana will be a bilateral meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf tomorrow on the sidelines of the summit, their first interaction in a year.

The Prime Minister will use the opportunity to convey to Gen Musharraf that there cannot be forward movement in the peace process unless Pakistan provides susbtantive evidence to show that it had stopped supporting cross-border terrorism against India.

The two leaders had last met in September, 2005, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Dr Singh will have bilateral talks with the leaders of several other countries, including Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Lebanon, Mauritius and Mongolia, Indian officials said. He will also meet United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The Indian delegation to the summit includes Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma and National Security Adviser M K Narayanan.

The two-day NAM summit has as its theme ''Purposes and Principles and the Role of NAM in the Present International Juncture.'' While India and some other countries will try and steer the movement back to its basic agenda of development and the establishment of a new cooperative global structure, it is clear from discussions at the levels of senior officials and foreign ministers preceding the summit that the standoff over Iran's nuclear programme and the situation in West Asia will dominate proceedings.

The summit will also see lobbying by both Venezuela and Guatemala for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council. India is yet to make up its mind on which way to vote.

India is certain to use the opportunity to push the candidature of its nominee Shashi Tharoor for the position of UN Secretary General.

There is also intense speculation on whether ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro, 80, would recover enough to show up at the summit.

If he does, it will be his first public appearance since undergoing intestinal surgery in July this year.

Raul Castro, 75, is officiating as acting President while his brother recovers from the surgery.

India realises that a great deal needs to be done by NAM members to enable the movement to play its assigned role in tackling the political, economic and social issues facing the third world.

Globalisation, it feels, has brought about many benefits and opened up possibilities for growth, but these had been uneven in nature and left many countries behind. The summit will look at ways of making globalisation much more inclusive in its benefits.

India will also impress upon member-countries the need to pool their strengths and resources and exert a collective influence in the resolution of global issues, many of which are not amenable to national or regional solutions.

Apart from issues such as terrorism, disarmament and trade, the summit will look at UN reforms, the situation in Afghanistan and West Asia, South-South cooperation, environment and public health.

Proposals would be considered to network the scientific and technological resources of the member-nations.

Cuba will take over as Chairman of the movement at the summit, a position it last held in 1982-83.

Egypt has thrown its hat in the ring for the Chairmanship of the movement after Cuba.

The 116 members of NAM represent more than half of the planet's population and about two-thirds of the membership of the United Nations, making it the largest such bloc in the world.

The last NAM summit was held in February, 2003, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

UNI

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