Chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement

Esteemed representatives of member and observer countries of the Non-Aligned Movement,

I am pleased to address you once again to speak of issues that are of vital importance to our Movement and to review the results we have obtained in the process of revitalizing and strengthening this Movement, as well as the challenges that still lie ahead.

This year, the Non-Aligned Movement will have another opportunity to evaluate what progress has been made in implementing the decisions adopted at the 14th Summit held in Havana in September 2006 and to collectively discuss our main concerns. The Ministerial Conference, to be held in Teheran, Iran, on a date to be announced shortly, must be a space to review our Movement’s work, revise and bring the Action Plan adopted at the Summit held in Havana up to date and identify the main actions we must undertake to meet its goals in the time that remains until the holding of the 15th Summit.

I avail myself of this opportunity to thank the Islamic Republic of Iran for its offer to host this important gathering and the measures it is already undertaking to prepare and organize the Conference. Cuba, as Chair of the Movement, is firmly committed to this aim and shall offer Iranian authorities whatever support it needs to ensure the success of the gathering, from both the political and organizational points of view.

The significance and scope of the questions to be debated on and the decisions to be made demand the presence of the foreign ministers of all our countries at the Teheran Conference. This will guarantee that the agreements we arrive at, in addition to responding to the specific concerns and interests of our peoples, will also encourage and consolidate our unity and solidarity and allow us to continue ensuring that the Non-Aligned Movement has a say in world developments.

At the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordinating Bureau held last September, we reviewed the work carried out during the first year with Cuba as Chair of the Movement and we defined a number of important tasks which we have yet to undertake. The 62nd session of the UN General Assembly once again put to the test our capacity to assemble as a forum to coordinate and align the positions of countries of the South and the effectiveness of our Movement in the main consultation and negotiation mechanisms, on fundamental issues of the international agenda. Together, we have managed to make the Movement a respected organization and have guaranteed that its interests are not ignored in decision-making processes within the Organization.

In recent months, the Movement has continued to meet success at different fronts and has undertaken initiatives that consolidate a more proactive approach in its working methods. I will mention a few examples that exemplify this claim:

• The work of the Movement during the 62nd session of the General Assembly has been commendable. The voice of the Non-Aligned countries was heard at the Main Committees and different draft resolutions submitted on behalf of the Movement were adopted by consensus or a wide margin of votes in favour.

 At the First Committee, we submitted a record number of 8 resolutions, allü of which were adopted by a wide margin, and we consolidated ourselves as a decisive force at the discussions and in the decision-making process.

 At the Third Committee, the Movement’s work proved decisive in the adoptionü of the draft resolution that made official the package for the institutional building of the Human Rights Council and the Code of Conduct for officials responsible for special procedures in this organization. The three resolutions submitted on behalf of the Movement were also approved at the Committee.

 The presence and activism of NAM in the Fourth Committee has allowed forü the achievement of important objectives. Our Movement consolidated its key role at the discussions and negotiations on all issues concerning peacekeeping operations. The Movement’s voice is also starting to be heard in addressing important decolonization matters, both in the Fourth Committee and in the Committee of 24.

The follow-up to the situation in the Middle East, including the question of Palestine, has been and will continue to be a main objective of the Movement. Our group’s concrete viewpoint and proposals on these issues are vastly known by all.

 The Sixth Committee witnessed significant levels of participationü by Non-Aligned countries, as expressed in the several interventions on behalf of the Movement on agenda items and the presentation of amendments to different resolutions negotiated on.

The adoption last year of 18 NAM Statements and Communiqués, on the most diverse issues, all of which are highly relevant, evidence the Movement’s increasing activism.

The presence and activism of NAM in the follow-up to the Security Council’s work has increased significantly. Aside from participating in several important discussions of this organ, we have consistently carried out concrete actions to denounce its selectivity and lack of transparency, as well as its dangerous encroachment on functions under the purview of other organs, particularly the General Assembly.

During 2007 the Movement circulated a record number of official documents in the Security Council, with a total of 17.

• The negotiating capacity of NAM–Group of 77 Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) has allowed for the Movement to become a key player in the discussion and negotiation processes on the Organization’s reform. The JCC’s performance has contributed to preserve the comprehensive nature of the United Nations system-wide coherence, as it was also instrumental in the negotiations of the proposed reforms of the Department for Disarmament Affairs and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Our groups have begun to jointly evaluate the reform proposals submitted by the Secretary-General in connection with different key departments of the Secretariat.

• Progress has been made relative to the work and coherence of the Movement within the United Nations. At different multilateral venues, our representatives act with autonomy but in close coordination with one another, with the Coordinating Bureau acting as the main centre. Work was well coordinated, for instance, between the Coordinating Bureau and the NAM Vienna Chapter in preparation for the first Meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the 8th NPT Review Conference, and between the Coordinating Bureau and the NAM Hague Chapter, on the occasion of the High Level Meeting for the 10th Anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

• The work of the Non-Aligned Movement within the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has continued to broaden. This work guaranteed that the Movement’s main interests were reflected in the decisions adopted at the 12th Conference of State Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention held in November 2007. Within this context, the united efforts of Non-Aligned countries allowed us to successfully confront attempts by certain countries to question the appropriateness of having NAM act as a coordinator of positions within the OPCW.

• The group of Non-Aligned countries that are State Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention submitted several concrete proposals and working documents at its annual meeting. These will serve as reference materials for future negotiations on the strengthening of the Convention.

• The Movement is today an important balancing force in the debates on diverse issues that are held within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency, including those carried out by the Board of Governors of the IAEA on the nuclear issue of Iran, which has thwarted the attempts by some countries to manipulate or to trivialize the progress that has been made in connection with matters pending between Iran and the IAEA.

• The successful holding of the Second NAM Business Forum in Havana, from November 2–3, closed the calendar of events included in the NAM Plan of Action for 2007.

These are but some of the results we have obtained in a few months, but they serve to illustrate the scope and the impact of the actions undertaken by the Movement.

I avail myself of this brief recount to express our most sincere appreciation for the steadfast and valuable support that each and every member of the Movement has given us and for the confidence bestowed on Cuba as NAM Chair. Nothing would have been possible without it.

We must make the most of our gathering in Teheran, in order to continue making progress in the revitalization and strengthening of the Movement as a forum for political coordination by the countries of the South and as an indispensable alternative to successfully confront attempts to impose a hegemonic and unilateral model in the international arena. Once again, we will reaffirm the Purposes and Principles that define our Movement at the international level today, which were also reaffirmed at the Havana Summit.

We believe the upcoming Ministerial Conference in Teheran should address a number of important issues:

• We must define the ways and means in which the Movement can have a more effective influence on decision-making processes at the UN Security Council and on its reform and democratization. The lack of access by Non-Aligned countries to consultations and decisions by the Council and the lack of transparency in this organ’s working methods severely limit the influence that Non-Aligned countries have within it and confirm that the Council is not designed for the adoption of democratic decisions, but for the imposition of the interests of a very reduced group of powerful countries.

• We must continue to boost the role played by the NAM Caucus in the Security Council. I must admit that progress has been made towards this aim, and the meetings and joint activities which had already been organized, if we persist, will benefit the interests of the Movement as a whole.

• We must look for ways of making the most of our diversity and to not allow existing differences between our countries — on issues such as the expansion of the Security Council membership — to have a negative impact on our capacity to assume and defend common positions on issues that are of vital importance to the future of the United Nations, which have a bearing on the realization of the right to peace, development and the well-being of our peoples.

• It is important to continue to make strides toward assuming an ever increasing proactive profile. We must maintain and extend the Movement’s capacity to make concrete proposals at the discussions and to submit resolutions and other initiatives at the different Main Committees of the UN General Assembly, on issues that are of common interest for Non-Aligned countries. We must explore, for instance, the advancement of new initiatives that will allow us to act as Movement at the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly, availing ourselves of the fact that we have defined common positions on several of the important issues that are addressed at the said Committee.

• In view of the significance that cooperation in the area of human rights has attained in the international agenda, the Movement must look to actions aimed at maintaining and extending its presence in debates held at the main fora, particularly the Human Rights Council and the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly. We must create a common front to counter attempts at imposing a selective, discriminatory and confrontational approach on us in the treatment of the issue of human rights at the international level.

• The Movement must demand the right to be an active party, de facto and de jure, in the struggle against international terrorism, defending the principle that this struggle can only be maintained on the basis of legitimate and concerted international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations. Neither this nor other world problems can be solved through the use of force, violence, aggression or military action, which violate the fundamental principles of the UN Charter and international law.

• We must consolidate the unity of actions with the Group of 77 through the Joint Coordinating Committee at the debates and negotiations on crucial elements of the UN reform process. We must close ranks so that the proposals submitted, rather than fan the flames of selectiveness, exclusion and privilege, in favour of the hegemonic interests of a handful of developed countries, contribute to the democratization and reform of the UN.

• We must successfully hold the remaining high-level meetings envisaged in the NAM Plan of Action for 2008, namely: the Meeting of NAM Ministers of Health scheduled for the 61st World Health Assembly, to be held in Geneva, in May 2008; the Meeting of NAM Labour Ministers, during the 97th International Labour Conference (Geneva, June 2008); the Seventh Meeting of NAM Ministers of Information (COMINAC VII), to be held in Venezuela, from July 2nd to 4th, 2008, and the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordinating Bureau, to be held as part of the High Level Segment of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly (New York, September 2008).

Esteemed Ambassadors, distinguished delegates:

The depth and scope of the discussions that we will hold at our next Ministerial Conference shall be decisive for the Movement’s future work.

As Chair of NAM, we assure you that we will do everything in our power to make the 15th Ministerial Conference a space to reaffirm the legitimate interests of the peoples we represent, a platform to continue to renew our efforts and to confront old and new challenges, and to continue struggling for a world, which we believe is possible, if we unite in the struggle for our peoples’ legitimate right to their well-being, peace and development.

Cuba is committed to the struggle for these lofty goals. We rely on the support you and the countries you represent offer us and on your committed and active involvement in the coordination and adoption of the decisions to come.

Thank you very much.

Minrex 28-02-2008