Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We are gathered here to celebrate over 40 years of activity by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). This occasion gives us the opportunity to recall the principles of the Movement that have guided us well through the decades, to evaluate our achievements and to focus on the role of the NAM in a new century and a changing global environment.

In September 1961 the Heads of State and Government of 25 countries, together with three observer countries and a number of representatives of liberation movements, met in Belgrade for the historic First Summit Conference of Heads of State and Government of Non-Aligned Countries.

It was during the Belgrade Summit that the founding fathers of the Movement formulated the policy of non-alignment, inspired by common ideals and encouraged by similar circumstances and experiences in their struggle for liberation against colonialism.

They also endorsed and refined the original and authentic principles of non-alignment, which were developed six years earlier in Bandung. These common ideals became the fundamental principles upon which non-aligned countries, up to today, base their decisions and activities.

Through adopting a principled position of not joining either of the major power blocs of the time, the Non-Aligned Movement sought an end to the Cold War. It demanded the resolution of international tensions and confrontation. It called for an end to all kinds of war around the world: hence the very first principle of non-alignment - that of peace and disarmament.

The eventual demise of the doctrine of military bloc formation and the end of the Cold War are enough historical vindication of the Movement’s vision of non-involvement in military pacts. Today, disarmament and peace remain a basic principle of non-alignment. However, if the issue of disarmament and peace is to be properly addressed, it must be done within the context of a global development strategy.

Another basic principle of non-alignment is self-determination. The struggle for national liberation of our peoples and countries was one of the ideals that inspired the formation of the Movement. In this regard, the success of the Movement in the liberation of Southern Africa should serve as further motivation for the Movement to address the outstanding issues of occupation and foreign domination.

I need not remind you that our brothers and sisters in Palestine are still fighting the scourge of occupation. Our Movement must not relent in its support for a just and lasting solution to this conflict. In the true spirit of non-alignment therefore, the path to enduring peace must be taken through dialogue rather than either acts of occupation or terrorism.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Movement can indeed pride itself on being instrumental in the victories achieved in the struggle for peace and security for all the world’s people, specifically during the period of the Cold War when the world was threatened by the distinct possibility of a nuclear holocaust.

The gains of the struggle for peace and security paved the way for intensified attention to socio-economic issues, specifically the eradication of poverty. They created the possibility for this urgent matter to rise to the top of the agenda of the NAM. Consequently, the issues of underdevelopment, economic dependence and the marginalisation of the South remain priority issues that the Movement must grapple with.

During the XII Summit Conference held here in Durban in 1998, we declared that "poverty, more than any other of the devastating threats facing the world, must be ended." We agreed that the eradication of poverty is a practical possibility and an economic and social imperative for global well being.

This decision was informed by the reality that poverty is by far the principal cause of death and suffering among the billions of people that belong to the South.

Poverty translates into inadequate nutrition for our peoples. It means lack of access to clean water and sanitation. It signifies low levels of education and access to modern skills.

It represents the inability to generate the domestic savings necessary for the high levels of capital formation we need in order to build a modern social and economic infrastructure and to create a modern economy. It spells a life of unemployment and underemployment for large numbers of people.

It condemns us to fall further and further behind the developed world in terms of access to the benefits of modern science and technology. Poverty makes it inevitable that many among our peoples are considered objects of charity, denied their dignity as human beings.

Accordingly, the principle of economic equity remains and must remain fundamental to non-alignment. While there are promises that the current global trends could lead to increased and beneficial economic activity for developing countries, it is evident that the vast majority of Non-Aligned countries continue to be marginalised.

Many among us are unable to share in the benefits of the processes of globalisation. All of us are familiar with the statistics that conclusively demonstrate that during the last few decades the development and wealth gap between the North and the South has widened rather than narrowed.

The challenge to acquire the requisite capacities to compete and benefit from globalisation in order to eradicate poverty has thus become the first and foremost challenge for the Movement in the new millennium.

With this challenge in mind, we set ourselves two broad goals in the aftermath of the 1998 XII Summit Meeting of the Movement. These were increased co-operation among the countries of the South and enhanced dialogue with the North. In our interactions with the North we can report some success in focusing the attention of the North on the priority issues of the South.

In 2000, these interactions culminated in two important events. These were the Okinawa Summit of the G8, followed by the UN Millennium Summit, which acknowledged poverty eradication as a global priority. These events also witnessed the beginning of an important paradigm shift in the relationship between North and South.

The outcome of the Millennium Summit is the clearest indication yet that it is possible to cultivate the political will, both in the North and the South, to enable us to engage the development issues as equal partners.

This was illustrated by the commitment we made in the Millennium Declaration to uphold the principles of human dignity and equality by fighting poverty. This important and common goal requires of us to utilise all opportunities to enter into dialogue on the way forward and to formulate practical and implementable measures to give effect to this commitment.

As we meet here, we must re-affirm our adherence to the principles of the NAM and as the heirs of that legacy, we need to be united in our policies, objectives and actions to enhance sustainable development for all our peoples. We must sustain the struggle for the creation of the circumstances conducive to the realisation of the ideal that we all cherish - the emergence of a world in which all people live in peace, security, freedom, equality, justice and prosperity.

As Africans, we are proud of the advances we are making to give practical expression to the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement of self-determination, self-reliance and solidarity. This has resulted in the evolution towards the formation of the African Union, which will be launched in July, and the formulation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD.

We commend to you both these interrelated initiatives, for the political and socio-economic integration and development of Africa, request your support and solidarity.

During the preparations for the Millennium Summit, we witnessed what can be achieved through united action. The challenge is to continue to strengthen this unity and methodology so that we take an active part in ensuring that the United Nations, and indeed all multilateral fora, focus on development in a sustained manner. Furthermore, to build on the unity we have achieved, we should enhance our partnership with the G77 and China.

We also have to prepare ourselves thoroughly for upcoming international processes such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg in August/September this year, the new round of World Trade Organisation negotiations and the World Summit on Information Society in 2003.

The developing world should utilise South-South co-operation to underpin the solidarity of developing countries and regional coherence with one another, in order to become a united vehicle for international co-operation for development.

Furthermore, to build on the unity we have achieved, we should enhance our partnership with the G77 and China. In this regard, it is clear that the interaction and synchronisation of ideas between the NAM and the G77 and China, through the Joint Co-ordinating Committee in New York, have proved to be highly effective in helping to determine the agenda and outcome of the Millennium Summit.

Consequently, the challenge ahead for the NAM is to find ways and means to strengthen our capacity for united action, responding creatively and expeditiously to the issues facing the Movement and the developing world. NAM mechanisms such as the NAM Troika and Co-ordinating Bureau should be strengthened and utilised to achieve the Movement’s objectives in multilateral fora on the basis of the agreed positions of the Members.

Continuously, we have to emphasise the need for us to plan and act collectively, merging national interests with the greater good of all countries of the South. At the same time, we must be acutely conscious of the fact that our own debates and discussions must lead to actual global action to advance the interests of the billions of people that we lead.

The development of concrete programmes of action and, if necessary, new mechanisms, will enable us to meet the challenges of a dynamically evolving world.

Clearly, in the coming years the Movement must continue to take the lead in fostering respect for human rights, the full application of the principles of the UN Charter and the observance of norms of international law, in particular as they refer to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of our member countries.

Despite what we have said about the possibility of the emergence of a common global political will to confront the challenges of development in a spirit of true partnership between the rich and the poor, our daily experience also tells us that old habits die hard.

Inertia still makes it possible for those who have exclusively decided the fate of the world in the past, perhaps instinctively to work in a manner that says that some are more equal than others.

In this regard, we cannot but be deeply disturbed by the appearance of strong right wing tendencies especially in Western Europe. This was most recently illustrated during the first round of the French presidential elections, which right wing tendency is deeply informed by racist sentiments directed, in the first instance, against immigrants from our countries into Europe.

Victory over racism wherever it may occur, the building of a true partnership between the North and the South and respect for the dignity of the peoples we represent require that we act together in unity to uphold the sacred principles of human equality and human solidarity.

South Africa’s involvement with the NAM dates back to the Asia-Africa Conference held in Bandung in 1955 where two members of the liberation movements of this country were present. The "spirit of Bandung" guided the struggle for liberation in this country, as in many others, and it was therefore an honour and privilege for South Africa to Chair this Movement.

Although we are now almost at the end of our custodianship, we will continue to work with the next Chair, and the membership, in pursuance of the challenges we set for ourselves in the Durban Declaration.

You will recall that the Movement declared in 1998 that "Durban must mark the turning point where the formerly dispossessed, the majority, enter into their inheritance".

In that spirit, we have managed to enhance our dialogue with the North. We have managed to get recognition that development and poverty eradication is the top priority on the global agenda.

We are again in Durban, this time in preparation for the XIII Summit of the Movement. In our preparations, we should make sure that we again reaffirm in the mandate you are developing here, the central goal of bringing to our peoples their due inheritance. Our full commitment to this goal must empower the incoming Chair to take this further in order to better the lives of the vast majority of humankind.

Your Excellencies, I do not doubt that we are all committed to the principles of the Movement. I do not doubt that we all believe that the collective will of all is required to meet the challenges facing the international community at large.

I do not doubt that we all wish to see worldwide peace and stability, freedom and democracy and prosperity for all. Our commitment to these principles should therefore guide us in our preparations for the next Summit.

I welcome you to South Africa and hope that you will be blessed with wisdom to articulate the positions of the South in clear, concise and action-oriented language.

I wish you well in the rest of your deliberations.

Thank you.