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Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I
wish to begin by conveying the sense of strong affinity and solidarity of the
people of India for the people of Egypt and the Arab world. I congratulate
His Excellency President Hosni Mubarak on his assuming the chairmanship of
the Non-aligned Movement. Mr. Chairman, we know that your profound wisdom and
able guidance will take our Movement forward. You will have India’s fullest support.
I also wish to express our deep appreciation to His Excellency President Raul
Castro of Cuba for his leadership of NAM over the last three years.
Meeting as we do on Arab soil, my thoughts turn to the people of Palestine, who have endured great suffering and hardship. Our Movement must do more to
facilitate a comprehensive, just, lasting and peaceful settlement of the
Palestinian issue.
The Nonaligned Movement owes a great deal to the visionary zeal of its
founding fathers like President Tito, Pandit Nehru, President Nasser and also
those who carried this vision forward like President Fidel Castro and Mrs.
Indira Gandhi.
At the first NAM Conference in 1961, India’s first Prime Minister and one of
the founding fathers of the Movement, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said, and I
quote “The power of nations assembled here is not military power or economic
power, nevertheless it is power. Call it moral force”. Unquote.
These words hold true even today. History
has shown that non-alignment is an idea that evolves but does not fade. We
must take it forward, harnessing it to meet the challenges of today.
The Non-aligned Movement gave voice to the colonial world, leading to their
political emancipation. It heralded their hope that their new found political
freedom would translate into economic progress and the removal of poverty,
hunger and disease; that they would become active and equal participants in
shaping a world order that would facilitate the realisation of their
development objectives. We are still far from achieving this objective.
No Non-aligned Summit has ever been held in an economic and financial crisis
of the magnitude that now grips the world.
This crisis, the worst in living memory, emanated from the advanced industrial
economies, but the developing economies, the members of our Movement, have
been the hardest hit. The global recession has strengthened protectionism in
developed country markets, drastically reduced developing country exports,
and choked credit and capital flows to the third world.
With the benefits and burdens of
globalization so unfairly distributed, it will be even harder for our
economies to cope with the crisis. If the aftermath of the crisis is not
carefully managed, and if the abundance of liquidity leads to a revival of
speculative activities, we may well see a period of prolonged stagflation.
Crucially for the developing world, a continuing slowdown will force more and
more of our people back into poverty, bringing down levels of nutrition,
health and education. The progress we have made at great cost and sacrifice
will be wiped out. The Millennium Development Goals will become a mirage.
The Non-aligned Movement has a great stake in ensuring that steps planned to
revive the global economy take into account the concerns of the developing
countries. These include the challenges of food security, energy security,
the environment and the reform of institutions of global governance. They are
embedded in the economic crisis and must be dealt with comprehensively and
with a sense of urgency. We have a crucial stake in a rule based multilateral
trading system and in an early conclusion of a balanced and fair agreement in
the Doha round.
The systems of global governance have not
kept pace either with the growing interdependence of nations or with
contemporary realities. Though we have a global economy of sorts, the global
polity does not represent the hopes, fears and aspirations of the majority of
the world’s people. The relevance of NAM has, hence, never been greater than
today. Cooperation, trade and investment among our countries can contribute
significantly to reviving the world economy.
Decision-making processes, whether in the United Nations or the international
financial institutions continue to be based on charters written more than
sixty years ago, though the world has changed greatly since then.
Developing countries must be fully represented in the decision-making levels
of international institutions if they are to remain effective and have the
legitimacy they need to play their role in an increasingly integrated world.
Our planet is threatened by the accumulation of greenhouse gases resulting
from over two centuries of industrial activity and unsustainable lifestyles
in the developed world. Any equitable solution to the problem of climate
change should acknowledge this historical responsibility.
Developing countries are the worst affected
by climate change. They have the biggest stake in ensuring the success of
global efforts to tackle climate change. We recognize more than anyone else
our obligation to preserve and protect the environment. We are already making
our own significant contributions in this regard, but climate change action
must not perpetuate the poverty of the developing countries.
The weight of NAM should be used to achieve a comprehensive, balanced and
above all, equitable outcome in the ongoing multilateral negotiations,
leading up to the Copenhagen Conference in December this year.
Nowhere are the challenges humankind faces more pressing than in the
continent of Africa. NAM should work to give Africa’s problems, and equally
its prospects, pre-eminence in the global development agenda. Making Africa an active participant in global economic processes is a moral imperative. It also
makes good economic sense.
India is committed to develop a comprehensive partnership with Africa. As a first step, we held the first India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi in 2008.
We are ready to work with other NAM countries to enhance our partnership in
areas that are of priority to Africa.
The youth constitute an overwhelming proportion of many of our populations.
If we can impart skills to our youth and create productive jobs for them, the
developing world can become a major source of future global economic growth.
The challenge before us is to make the poor of the world more skilled and
more bankable. NAM itself can pioneer an initiative in this regard and India will be ready to participate in it.
The diversity of our membership is our greatest strength. We respect each
other’s paths to development, distinct cultural traditions and national
priorities. Extremism, intolerance and terrorism are our antitheses; they
seek to destroy us and our Movement.
In recent years, terrorist groups have become more
sophisticated, more organized and more daring. Terrorists and those who aid
and abet them must be brought to justice. The infrastructure of terrorism
must be dismantled and there should be no safe havens for terrorists because
they do not represent any cause, group or religion. It is time that we agree
on a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
The Non-aligned Movement was formed to try to save the world from a political
and military rivalry that threatened to destroy it. We fought against the
injustice of colonialism, and the arrogance of the Cold War. Our Movement
made a significant contribution to widening circles of cooperation, peace and
stability in the world. Our voice was heard with respect.
The world has changed and the challenges have grown more complex. The moral
force that Pandit Nehru spoke of was a force that came from the power of
ideas and from an abiding faith in the principles of justice and reason. How
we can exercise this force for the collective good of humanity is what the
Movement must deliberate upon. We look forward, Mr. Chairman, to your
leadership, as we seek to fashion a contemporary and compelling vision for
the Non-aligned Movement.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
July 15, 2009
Sharm El-Sheikh
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