Born in the shadows of the Cold War the Non-Aligned Movement(NAM) is now faced with the task of finding a new role for Itself. Some argue that as the Cold War ends, and along with it the ideological struggle, so should the need for NAM. This simplistic view can only be put forward by those who never saw the NAM for what it really was — an attempt by the developing countries to assert themselves tn the international arena. Yes. NAM was bom out of a reaction — reaction to the pressures from the West, especially of the United States, to become aligned in the ideological struggle against the socialist bloc. As Churchill announced the descent of the Iron Curtlan, the developing countries of Asia. Africa and Latin America were forced to choose — through political and economic pressure — to be on the right side of that divide, meaning the West. It was to protect the economically weak and nascent states, freshly out of the colonial clutches of the European powers, that Tito. Nkrumah. Nehru. Nasser and Sukarno pioneered the non-aligned movement, which in its hey-day reached a membership of more than a 100 countries.

Much water, as the saying goes, has passed through the rivers since then. It is a different, and in many ways, a better world that we now face and it is in this era that the task has devolved upon us to find a new raison d'etre for NAM. The first and foremost task that NAM faces now is to transform itself from an organisation that shielded the developing countries from being drawn into the ideological battle of the super powers to one that actively promotes the economic and social advancement of the developing world. In other words the focus of NAM will have to shift from East-West to the North-South issues. The ground work of such a shift was laid in the 1973 NAM summit in Algiers where the resolution to launch the New International Economic Order was adopted. Subsequently due to lack of sincere follow-up on the part ol NAM countries and the rather shortsighted policies of some of its more advanced members, the economic agenda of NAM did not make the progress that was expected.

The just concluded 10th meeting of the NAM Foreign Ministers adopted a report aimed at meeting the new challenges. NAM ministers have demanded the establishment of pluralism in politics which is an indirect way of hinting that many developing countries could do with some more democracy and freedom. They have also called for greater co-operation with the West especially in solving the problems of debt servicing and technology transfer. A very pertinent Sint of reforms in the United Nations was called

•. especially in the Security Council, which the NAM Foreign Ministers felt did not reflect the enlarged membership of the world body. The issues of removing Third World' poverty received high nriority in the meeting, for NAM continues to reflect the need of the poor and impoverished masses of the world. As their representative NAM is morally obliged to make the problems of their development the central agenda of the interna tlonal community.

We are gratified to note that the final report of the NAM Foreign Ministers meeting reflects most of the points raised by our Foreign Minister. We compliment him for the leading role he played in the deliberations of the meeting and for being able to include the Ideas put forward by Bangladesh in its final outcome.