NAM to set up contact grp on humanitarian affairs

Havana, Sep 17: The 14th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit today decided to set up a Contact Group on Humanitarian Affairs to mobilise resources and assistance in the event of natural disasters and pandemics in member-countries.

In a document on the Methodology of the Non-Aligned Movement adopted by the summit, the leaders of the 116 member-countries also decided to convene a meeting of the former Chairs of NAM to promote informal exchanges of experiences and brainstorming on particular issues.

The summit agreed to maintain the current mechanism of the Troika of NAM, consisting of the present, past and next Chair, to assist the work of the Chair. The Troika shall report on its deliberations to the NAM Coordinating Bureau in New York.

The Bureau is made up of the Permanent Representatives of member-countries to the UN.

The summit decided to strengthen the role of the bureau as the focal point of coordination of the movement.

The document said NAM ministerial meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly would consider, among other things, the movement's positions on issues included on the agenda of the UNGA.

The summit decided to revitalise the Standing Ministerial Committee for Economic Cooperation and to review the existing working groups, contact groups, task forces and committees in order to determine their relevance.

The leaders decided to move forward on the creation of a support mechanism to the Chair of NAM. The movement does not have a permanent secretariat.

It was also agreed that the final document of the NAM summits would include concrete, action-oriented measures and initiatives.

UNI