NAM Summit called for a new world order

Friday, July 17, 2009 08:21:30 AM, Agencies

Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt:

The 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), currently meeting at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, has called for a new world order to prevent a repeat of the global economic meltdown.

"Every country in the world must seek just solutions to the global economic crisis," Cuban President Raul Castro, the outgoing NAM president, told the opening session of the 118-member body conference.

"We call for a new monetary and economic world order," he proposed adding, "We must restructure the world financial system to take into consideration the needs of developing countries."

A financial firestorm swept the US last year after the collapse and financial woes of a number of Wall Street giants.

It has knocked down markets worldwide.

Many economists believe the crisis, the worst crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, signals the collapse of the US-styled capitalism.

"We call for a new international political, economic and trade order," agreed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the summit host and new NAM president. "We call for a more just and balanced order that prevents discrimination and double standards, achieves the interests of all, takes into account concerns of developing countries and establishes democratic dealings between rich and poor states", he said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown underlined in October the need for a new international financial architecture for the global age. "We must have a new Bretton Woods, building a new international financial architecture for the years ahead."

The Bretton Woods system, agreed at the end of World War II, has set in place the world's financial architecture which remains in place today based on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Libyan leader Maummar Gaddafi demanded a change in the global power dynamics and a restructuring of the UN Security Council. "We have suffered all sorts of harm from the Security Council, it has become a sword over our necks", Gaddafi said.

He insisted that the Council was "monopolized by a few countries that are permanent members."

"This represents a danger toward international peace. The Security Council is terrorism."

The Libyan leader called for correcting the imbalance at the Security Council, demanding a permanent seat for the 53-member African Union, which he chairs.

India said members of the 118-member body should play a bigger role on the world stage.

"Decision-making processes, whether in the UN or the international financial institutions continue to be based on charters written more than 60 years ago, though the world has changed greatly since then," said Premier Manmohan Singh. "Developing countries must be fully represented in the decision-making levels of international institutions."

India-Pakistan pledge dialogue

Meanwhile, meeting in Egypt on Thursday on the sidelines of the NAM summit, the prime ministers of India and Pakistan agreed to continue dialogue to resolve the differences between the two nuclear armed neighbours. 

The meeting was the second high-level talks between the two nations since last year's attack on the Indian city of Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on a Pakistan-based group.

"Both prime ministers recognised that dialogue is the only way forward," a joint statement released after the meeting said.

Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, and Yusuf Reza Gilani, his Pakistani counterpart, also agreed that the fight against armed groups operating within their borders should not be allowed to affect the peace process.

"Action on terrorism should not be linked to the composite dialogue process and these should not be bracketed," the statement said.

Home | Top of the Page

  Comment on this article

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) Who devised a Secure World

France's Encounter with Pharaoh Ramesses

In 1905 more than 100 years from today, when Iqbal was a lecturer at the Government College, Lahore he was invited by his student Lala Hardayal to preside over a function. Instead of making a speech, Iqbal sang....Read Full

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad - Preacher of the Peace and Harmony

Saudi King calls for Interfaith Dialogue: The Saudi king has made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews — the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and...Read Full

Introducing Islam

Taliban’s Jizya is Extortion, Nothing to Do with Islam: Indian Muslim religious leaders have unanimously condemned in strongest terms the Pakistani Taliban’s kidnapping, extortion of huge amounts....Read Full

Our terror, their terror: Doval’s response was that the term ‘Hindu terror’ worried him. There were, he said, two dimensions to any battle against terror. The first was law and order. You should treat all terrorists as murderers regardless of their....Read Full

Fascism and Terrorism: Two Sides of the same coin: “It seems that the fascist forces with a clear anti-Muslim agenda have infiltrated the security forces. Since the Indian... Read Full

The storm sweeping south Asia: “Afghanistan has been known over the years as the graveyard of empires” stated  General  David H. Patraeus, head of the US Central Command, in an attempt to.....Read Full

The Hidden Face of the Terrorism Exposed At last: A nation under the siege, innocent lives are at stake and the basic structure of the country in itself is at risk...Read Full

Terrorist vs Terrorism

Victims of Terror