Sultan To Attend NAM Leaders' Summit In Kuala Lumpur

Bandar Seri Begawan - His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei will join other members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) for the two-day Leaders' Summit set to open on Monday, February 24, in Kuala Lumpur.

The Sultan and the other heads of state expected to attend the summit will discuss development issues, terrorism, and the Iraq crisis. The NAM leaders are expected to come down firmly against war as a solution to the Iraq crisis. They will also address problems besetting its members such as poverty and debt burden. Earlier, senior officials of NAM agreed to Malaysia's proposal to make the NAM Business Forum a permanent feature at future NAM Summits. The consensus was reached during the two-day Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) which ended yesterday.

Malaysia's Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar is quoted by Bernama to have said that the movement felt that the inclusion of the forum in future NAM meetings would benefit member countries.

He said the institutionalization of the business forum will enable the private sectors to get involved in the movement.

Malaysia, the incoming Chair of NAM for the next three years, is holding the forum for the first time in conjunction with the 13th NAM Summit.

The Summit aims to promote trade and investment links apart from enhancing business and economic cooperation among South countries.

Currently, the share of NAM's 114 members in the world trade accounts only for US$880.5 billion or 14.3 per cent of world exports and US$736.9 billion or 11.4 per cent of world imports.

NAM leaders believe that a closer cooperation of the private sectors in NAM would result in more trade and investment between member countries.

At the two-day Senior Officials Meeting, Malaysia proposed the imposition of levy by developing countries like the members of NAM on trade conducted with developed countries.

The tax raised could be used to finance development of transportation and communication infrastructures that were now lacking in most developing countries. In the same meeting, the NAM member countries stood firm against war in Iraq but refused Baghdad's request that they bar U.S. troops from using their soil as a launchpad for attack.

The issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and North Korea dominated the preparatory talks. In a draft resolution yesterday, the NAM nations said that the use of force against Iraq would run contrary to the global consensus that "categorically rejects the current threat of war."

The draft is to be approved by foreign ministers today and then by heads of state, who begin the two-day summit on Monday.

Officials of NAM, who include Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- the three states branded by President Bush as an "axis of evil" -- prepared the draft in yesterday's talks. Singapore, Chile and Iran were among countries that asked for more time to seek approval from their governments for strongly worded amendments backing Iraq.

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