I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our condolences to the Indonesian delegation for the intense earthquake that has caused thousands of victims in that country.

First and foremost, I would like to pay tribute to the wonderful work that Malaysia has been doing during its Chair of the Movement, whose performance and commitment will set an example for our future endeavor.

Behind are the moments in which some people questioned the existence and validity of the Non-Aligned Movement in light of the new international circumstances that prevailed in the turbulent nineties. Nobody has any doubts today about the relevance of its founding principles and its importance as a forum of political harmonization for the countries of the South.

However, a decade after that period, our Movement has new challenges ahead of it. Cuba is willing to cope with them during its Chairmanship, following the celebration of the XIV Summit in Havana next September.

Now, allow me to share some thoughts on the challenges ahead:

First: The Movement is currently faced with a paradox. What should be our main strength – extensive membership – occasionally becomes, indeed, the main obstacle to our effectiveness.

Having absolute majority and nearly two-thirds of the membership of the United Nations should turn us into an overwhelming force within that Organization and on the international global scene. However, on quite a few occasions and because of internal differences or the imposition of national interests, we engage in discussions that only lead us to disunity and the bending of our positions. That happens almost always on issues or circumstances of the utmost priority to the Third World. At that moment, we become an easy prey to the ruthless force of the pressures exerted by the most powerful countries – which, that way, end up imposing their designs.

Second: The current international scene is a far cry from the prevailing one in previous stages.

The existence of a sole superpower, which attempts to impose its hegemony at the international level and willfully intervene in a unipolar world, goes to reinforce the need to rely on an increasingly cohesive Movement, which

reaffirms its founding principles and updates them at the same time. We cannot allow, for example, the Non-Aligned Movement to remain inactive while unilateral actions are undertaken in violation of International Law and the UN Charter, even against member countries of the Movement. Cohesion, unity and solidarity must be the fundamental pillars of our collective endeavor.

Third: We are a heterogeneous mix of ideologies, religions, cultures, levels of development, historical experiences and specific national interests.

This undeniable diversity, far from being an obstacle curtailing harmonization, must become an incentive to build the unity that allows us to better cope with the challenges of today’s turbulent and unjust world. The fact that each and every one of us is going through various circumstances in our development processes and in the practice of our international relations must provide us with the asset to facilitate our ability to react to any phenomenon. Likewise, the risks, threats and difficulties that we face are similar and rooted in a common origin. Therefore, it is up to the Movement to turn that diversity into the force that provides us with creativity, solidarity and cohesion in defense of our collective interests. We must always bear in mind that what does not affect us today, but affects another member of the Movement could very well affect us tomorrow.

In the pursuit of this objective, it is imperative for us to return to the application of consensus in the decision-making process in the context of the Movement, as endorsed in the Cartagena Document on Methodology. Consensus has had and still has a major role in maintaining the solidarity and unity of the non-aligned countries. It means considerable agreement and entails an extensive, participatory and transparent process of consultations to attain it – but it does not demand or imply unanimity. Occasionally, the search for unanimity has led us to paralysis.

Fourth: The lack of a clear agenda which defines concrete actions to undertake together compromises the ability to successfully deal with our most pressing priorities. The draft Final Declaration presented by Malaysia to this meeting is a case in point.

Our meetings, as well as the documents agreed upon in them, must be geared towards the identification of concrete goals and actions that allow us to look into our common interests and needs.

Fifth: The member countries occasionally endure the lack of sense of belonging to the Movement.

The united and solidarity-oriented defense of our shared interests, the active participation of everyone in the deliberations on issues of vital importance to the countries of the South and the identification of concrete actions to materialize our aspirations must be instrumental in coping with this challenge.

The idea of belonging to the NAM must not and cannot run counter to the participation of its members in other regional and subregional blocs or organizations or in groupings such as the G-77. On the contrary, every

mechanism of harmonization and every form of genuine integration among our nations will contribute to enhancing our role at the international level, as it will favor our socio-economic development. We must attain the same level of commitment to the Movement as to the other regional or subregional organizations that many of us belong to.

But once the main challenges are identified, what can be done to face them? What does Cuba intend to do from the Chair of the Movement?

In the Final Document of the XIII Summit, successfully held here in Malaysia in February 2003, the Heads of State and Government of our countries “reaffirmed that solidarity among its members is essential to the Movement.”

Along this line, Cuba advocates the unity of action and the solidarity among all the members of the Movement as the only alternative to overcome the enormous challenges ahead of us.

At the XIV Summit, Cuba will present a draft Political Declaration that clearly identifies the priorities, principles, goals and common objectives of the countries that make up the Movement in the current conditions, while reaffirming the principles of Bandung and the basic tenets that are still valid and incepted the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries.

Cuba will also present a Document on Methodology of the Movement, which takes up again and updates the Agreements of the Ministerial Committee on Methodology of the Movement in relation to its working principles and the prerogatives of its executive mechanisms. The main objective of this Document is to systematize what has been achieved, expand the scope of performance and provide greater clarity, effectiveness and viability to the application of the agreements and decisions adopted by the non-aligned countries in its main meetings of harmonization.

Cuba will present a Plan of Action of the Non-Aligned Movement to the Summit for consideration and further adoption, which includes concrete actions and initiatives to be enforced by the non-aligned countries on the basis of the decisions and principled positions adopted at the high-level meetings. This document will represent the program for the three years of Cuba’s Chairmanship, although it will have to be updated and enriched as international events evolve and new issues or situations of interest emerge for the non-aligned countries.

In order to enhance solidarity and mutually advantageous exchanges among its members, Cuba will also present a Document on Cooperation, which reinforces the importance and validity of South-South cooperation among the non-aligned countries.

Cuba will continue to support the concrete steps taken by the Malaysian Chair in activating the Movement in other multilateral venues, besides New York, which will contribute to our unity, coherence, presence and effective endeavor

in the international forums where issues of interest to the countries of the South are raised.

Distinguished colleagues: