South Africa will be hosting the XIV Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement in Durban from 17 - 19 August 2004. Ministerial Conferences of the Non-Aligned Movement are held with the purpose of reviewing the developments and the implementation of the decisions of the proceeding Summit and also to start preparations for the following Summit.

President Thabo Mbeki will deliver the inaugural address on 19 August 2004 at the Opening Ceremony of the Ministerial Conference. The incumbent Chair at Ministerial level of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Foreign Minister of Malaysia, Minister Seri Syed Hamid Albar, will chair the Opening Ceremony. The opening ceremony will also hear messages from the President of the Fifty-eight Session of the General Assembly, His Excellency Mr. Julian R. Hunte, the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the UN, Mr. Tulianeni Kalomoh (who will represented the Secretary General of the UN), and the current chairs at the UN of the four regions of the Movement (Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America and the Caribbean).

Minister Dlamini Zuma will chair the plenary sessions of the Ministerial Conference, which will discuss the conference theme "Challenges for Multilaterism in the 21^st century". The Director-General of Foreign Affairs, Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, will chair the plenary sessions of the Senior Officials meeting. Malaysia and Jamaica will chair the Political Committee and the Economic and Social Committee respectively.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Dlamini Zuma, in her capacity as host and Chair of the Conference, proposed that the Conference should discuss challenges for multilaterism in the 21^st century. The Conference comes at a time when the threat of large-scale international terrorism made it clear that multilateral co-operation is the only way to grapple with transnational challenges of global peace and security. At the same time it is also clear that progress on the development goals, agreed to at major international conferences over the past years, needs to be accelerated. Consequently the Ministers will call for a renewed spirit of multilateralism and equality between rich and poor countries, as well as discuss an enhanced role for the Movement to obtain results in this process.

A preparatory meeting of Senior Officials on 17 and 18 August 2004 will precede the Ministerial meeting of 19 August 2004. NAM methodology requires Senior Officials to commence with the work of the Conference in a Political Committee and an Economic and Social Committee respectively prior to the Ministerial Meeting. The Senior Officials will negotiate a Draft Final Document, which will be recommended for adoption to the Ministers as the outcome document of the Conference.

Non-Aligned Summits and Ministerial Conferences are hosted on a rotational basis between the four regions of the Movement. It is the turn of the Africa region to host the Ministerial Conference and the Latin America and Caribbean region will host the next Summit (Cuba 2006). Ministerial Conferences are usually convened 18 months after a Summit and are also used to discuss matters of urgency or of particular concern to the membership of the Movement.

SA has already hosted the XII NAM Summit in 1998, a NAM Health Ministers' meeting in 2000, a Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Co-ordinating Bureau in 2002 and initiated a process by which a volunteer group of members states made proposals for the revitalisation of the Movement. This initiative was also referred to as the Zimbali process. All these NAM events, and other major conferences such as CHOGM '99; WCAR and WSSD highlights South Africa's capacity to stage major international conferences at the highest level.

The Chair of the Non Aligned Movement, Malaysia, will also convene a meeting of the NAM Committee on Palestine. The Committee will focus on the recent ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the separation wall in Palestine, erected by Israel. A declaration is expected in this regard.

The Committee on Palestine of the NAM is currently constituted by 10 member states and chaired by the incumbent chair. In 2000 President Mbeki, in his capacity as then Chair of the NAM, convened a Ministerial meeting of the Committee in Pretoria, which was also attended by President Arafat. The NAM Security Council Caucus was also invited to attend the meeting.

Subsequently the Committee met again at Ministerial level under South Africa’s chairship in Durban (April, 2002) and in Kuala Lumpur (XIII Summit, February, 2003). The last meeting of the Committee was under the chairship of the current NAM Chair in Putrajaya, Malaysia (May 2004). The Committee aims at showing solidarity with Palestinian people and highlighting their plight in international forums. As a former chair of the Movement South Africa remains a member of the Committee.

Issued by: The Department of Foreign Affairs

Private Bag X152

Pretoria 0001

16 August 2004

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