Statement by H.E. Mr. M. Morshed Khan, MP, Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh at the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Putrajaya, Malaysia on May 29-30, 2006

Mr. Chairman,

At the outset allow me to express our deep condolences at the tragic loss of lives and property in the recent earthquake in Indonesia.

Let me also express my delegation's deep appreciation for the excellent arrangements of this Meeting and for the generous hospitality extended to us, very much in keeping with Malaysian tradition.

I thank His Excellency Mr. Abduallah Badwai, Prime Minister of Malaysia for his insightful speech this morning. It has given us new inspiration and sense of direction to work together and speak in one voice. His speech touched on issues which concerns us all and provided useful guidance in our quest to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Mr. Chairman,

The Non Aligned Movement in its forty-five years of existence had many accomplishments. It has grown to be the voice of reason and moderation in global politics, resisting unilateralism, coercion and extremism. Its membership grew from 25 in 1961 to 114 countries by 2006. And today, we are delighted to welcome Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica as members of this important Movement.

While NAM's achievements are commendable, Mr. Chairman, the Movement seems to have limited success elsewhere. For example, average GDP per capita for the Movement countries is only $1,132 compared to the world average of over $6,487 [1]. If we exclude the oil rich countries and Singapore, the NAM average drops to about $700.

NAM must therefore strive to address the economic issues and the challenges of the 21st century more vigorously and effectively and ensure the participation of all stakeholders, especially the private sector, to make the Movement more dynamic, cohesive and relevant. The challenges of globalization must be translated into advantages and opportunities for the peoples of all NAM member countries.

In this connection, I would like to flag two points relating to development of our economies. The first is the role of the private sector as the engine of growth. We need to create an enabling condition for the private sector to play its role.

The other point is the role of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in our economies. It is well recognized that SMEs are the mainstay of the industrial setup in most of our countries and any industrial development begins with the development of SMEs.

We hope that NAM would give due consideration to these two important areas.

Mr. Chairman,

One area of particular interest to Bangladesh is the issue of migration. Free movement of human capital makes sense in terms of economic efficiency, environmental sustainability and human rights. Yet, we see little progress in this area. The Hong Kong WTO ministerial meeting addressed migration merely as a footnote. Reaching an agreement on mode IV liberalization remains elusive. It is unlikely that the developed countries will open their door for our peoples unless we start doing it amongst ourselves. If we are to establish a truly cohesive and inclusive NAM, it should focus on more people-to-people contacts and of course, on more movement of people in the spirit of the Ninth Principle of the Bandung Declaration.

Mr. Chairman,

We are all aware that as the members of the United Nations, we will have to select, before the year-end, a new Secretary General to lead the organization. This is critical because the next Secretary General will be entrusted with the responsibility to steer UN reforms and facilitate international cooperation for peace, security and development. It took almost fifty years for the international community to put development at the center of UN activities and would be too costly for us all to deviate from this focus. This is the turn to have the Secretary General from Asia. The next Secretary General should not only be an Asian, he should also be from a developing country with strong commitment to the principle of non-alignment and development. We must remain united to uphold the principle of rotation in selecting the next Secretary General.

Mr. Chairman,

As we have spoken forcefully of promotion of democracy, we need to stress that representation of the people anywhere should not be undermined by upholding the voice of the people as reflected in an election. The win by Hamas in the Palestinian elections in a poignant case in point.

Mr. Chairman,

On terrorism, it is important that efforts to conclude a comprehensive convention on terrorism must address all relevant issues, including the adoption of counter-terrorism strategy that would have full respect for human rights while combating this menace. We in Bangladesh, along with many others at international level, unequivocally condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We have ratified 12 of the 13 UN anti-terrorism conventions and are working on the recently adopted one.

Mr. Chairman,

Before concluding, I would like to congratulate the NAM Member States who got elected to the newly constituted Human Rights Council (HRC). I am happy to note that 27 of the 47 members of HRC are NAM members. I hope that the Council will provide equal treatment to both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the right to development. The Council should, most importantly, be fair and inclusive in the conduct of its work and avoid double standards.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.