Egypt Hosts Non Aligned
Movement Summit
A
summit of the Non-Aligned Movement has opened at the
Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh,
with a call from Cuban President Raul Castro for a
new international financial system to shield
developing nations from the global recession.
Castro was on Wednesday addressing the opening
session of the movement's two-day summit, the 15th
such gathering since the group was founded in the
1950s.
Nigeria’s President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is among
world leaders attending the summit.
Clarion call
"We demand the establishment of a new international
financial and economic structure that relies on the
participation of all countries," Castro was quoted
saying.
The new system, he said, must give developing
countries "preferential treatment." He did not
elaborate.
Castro's call for a new world financial system
follows up on a similar demand by foreign ministers
and senior officials from the movement who warned,
after four days of meetings, that the global
financial crisis will adversely affect their
developing nations the most. Joint action, they
said, was needed to ward off its impact.
Change of baton
Castro later handed the movement's presidency over
to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose country
will head the group for the next three years.
Egypt, India and the former Yugoslavia are the
movement's founding members.
21st Century relevance?
The 118-nation Non-Aligned Movement was born during
the Cold War more than five decades ago, as a group
of countries that is neither allied with the
U.S.-led camp or the Soviet bloc. A middle course,
they argued then, was in their best interest.
However, the movement has lost much of its relevance
when the Cold War ended nearly two decades ago. Made
up mostly of African, Asian and Latin American
nations, it has since become primarily an
international speaking forum for developing nations.
Sidelines
The summit's draft declaration has called for the
group to co-ordinate with China - attending the
summit as an observer - to have their voices heard
at international financial institutions like the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
The prime ministers of nuclear powers Pakistan and
India, are expected to meet on the sidelines of the
summit in what would be one of the conference's
highlights.
The two leaders met in Russia
last month for the first time since the Mumbai
terror attacks last year, but they made little
headway in defusing the tension in their relations.
Agency/Saint/Yinka