PM to pitch for renewed NAM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech at the Non-Aligned Movement summit will be an attempt to make the Cold War institution relevant to the 21st century.

In what officials say may be his most significant speech on international affairs, Singh is likely to pitch for turning NAM into a forum for helping the third world countries benefit from globalisation. He also wants NAM to resolve disputes between developing countries.

"The prime minister's speech will be about refashioning NAM from being response to the Cold War into a forum to help globalisation work for developing countries," said a top official in the government.

"Most conflicts are resolved by the western countries. The prime minister is going to suggest that developing countries help each other," the official said.

Singh will also suggest a NAM initiative to counter terrorism. "Many NAM countries are victims of terrorism. Such an initiative will be just the reorientation the post-Cold War NAM needs," the official added.

The Left leaders, who met the prime minister today, stressed that NAM should be refashioned without changing its old "anti-imperialist charter."

The Left sees the summit as "an opportunity to correct the course of India's foreign policy, which has been unmistakably drifting towards succumbing to US imperialist pressures in recent times," according to a note circulated by the Left parties recently.

Whether the prime minister's and the Left's intentions converge in Havana is yet to be seen, though.

Singh will be in Brazil for the India-Brazil-South Africa summit of democracies from September 12-14. He will then leave for the NAM summit in Havana from September 15-16.