| Patterson to lead Jamaica delegation to Non-Aligned Summit |
| Observer Reporter Friday, February 14, 2003 |
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| PATTERSON... to reaffirm Jamaica's commitment |
PRIME minister P J Patterson is expected to head a Jamaica delegation to this month's 13th annual summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Malaysia.
According to Delano Franklyn, minister of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jamaica will, at this meeting, reaffirm its commitment to the movement and contribute to discussions on making the organisation more relevant in the context of today's neo-liberal free trade policies.
Franklyn made reference to the February 22 to 25 Summit during a meeting last Friday with Digvijay Singh, India's minister of external affairs.
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| MANLEY... got Jamaica integrally involved in group |
Franklyn said the Non-Aligned Movement must reassert itself and counterbalance the present uni-polar reality dominated by the United States.
The movement was formed in 1961 as a forum to address the then bi-polar reality and arms race between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Jamaica was integrally involved in the group under former prime minister Michael Manley. In the 1970s, Manley used the movement to discuss issues dealing with Western colonialism and solutions to the economic problems of developing countries.
The movement had a second coming in 1990 in response to issues of globalisation.
Franklyn, at the meeting with the external affairs minister, also argued that the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which regulates world trade, should give differential and special treatment to countries that are small and vulnerable. These countries, he said, should be granted reasonable time in which to make necessary adjustments to their trading relationships with more developed countries.