His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah - Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade - yesterday attended the opening of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial Summit as well as the Plenary Meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
The summit was officially opened by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, RTB reported yesterday.
In his keynote address, Datuk Seri Abdullah said the issue of Iran's nuclear technology programme should be settled through diplomacy to be given any chance to succeed.
He added that NAM had, and would, continue to defend the basic and inalienable right of all states that are to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
"NAM must continue to insist on a balanced approach between nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.
"The movement must galvanise international efforts towards the systematic reduction and eventual elimination of those awful weapons of mass destruction," he said.
The plenary meeting kicked off with the general debate themed 'Towards a more dynamic and cohesive NAM: Challenges of the 21st Century.'
Meanwhile, HRH Prince Mohamed Bolkiah and other delegates from other NAM Coordinating Bureau attended a dinner reception on Sunday night. Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar hosted the reception.
Some 80 delegates representing the Non-Aligned Movement Coordinating Bureau (NAM-CoB) attended the function which was held at the Marriot Putrajaya Hotel.
On the same day, senior NAM-CoB officials ended their two-day preparatory meeting to draft the final document for the ministerial meeting, which started yesterday.
The NAM ministers discussed the theme 'Towards a more dynamic and cohesive NAM: Challenges of the 21st Century.'
The results of their deliberations will be used as inputs for the Havana NAM Summit to be held in September.
HRH Prince Mohamed Bolkiah arrived in Malaysia on Sunday. On arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, HRH was greeted by Malaysian Deputy of Foreign Affairs Dato Joseph Salang Gandum, High Commissioner of Brunei Darussalam to Malaysia Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohamad Amin and officials from the Brunei Darussalam High Commission.
- Borneo Bulletin
(30th May 2006)
