Kuala Lumpur, Feb 23: Bangladesh has urged the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to shift its attention from politics to economic and development issues if it wants to effectively champion the cause of the less developed world. Bangladeshi Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan yesterday said it was high time for the 114-member movement to focus on areas like poverty eradication, capacity building, getting more market access and more economic cooperation. NAM at the same time should also not ignore the political agenda which it had pursued all these years and which were relevant to the present situation, he told reporters after meeting his Malaysian counterpart Syed Hamid Albar on the sidelines of the 13th NAM Summit's ministerial meeting here. Morshed said Bangladesh considered Malaysia as a role model among developing countries and was confident it would be able to steer NAM into a dynamic movement in working towards these agendas. He said many of the NAM countries, especially in Africa and Asia, were still struggling to provide their people with the basic needs despite gaining independence long ago.
Bureau Report