Global terrorism will top the agenda at the summit meeting of the 114-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Malaysia in February, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said today.

"Terrorism will still be at centre stage because many countries in NAM are those that have been targeted," Syed Hamid told reporters.

Several member nations in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa have been listed by Western countries as high-risk for travel because of the threat of terrorism.

"Developing countries feel marginalised in the euphoria of fighting terrorism," Syed Hamid said, adding that the spotlight would focus on how developing countries could cooperate to combat terror.

Syed Hamid said the perception that developing countries had once again been sidelined by the big powers had sparked renewed interest in NAM, which was formed in 1961 as an alternative to the Western and Soviet blocs during the Cold War.

Reviving fortunes

After the collapse of the Soviet Union NAM was seen as becoming increasing irrelevant, but Syed Hamid indicated that the war on terrorism could revive the movement's fortunes.

"We need to be more visible. We need to have our voices heard," he said.

The movement should "be the greatest advocate of multilateralism" - an apparent reference to United States threats to unilaterally attack Iraq if it refuses to disarm.

Iraq is a member of NAM, along with several Middle Eastern countries and the Palestine Liberation Organisation of Yasser Arafat and developing countries throughout the world.

"Most importantly now is for us to be the greatest advocate of multilateralism. Any tendency to have absolutist principle as a means of conducting foreign policy should be avoided," Syed Hamid said.

The theme of the summit would be "Continuing Revitalisation of the Non-Aligned Movement".

Syed Hamid said that so far 30 heads of government out of 114 member states had confirmed that they would attend the summit on Feb 24-25.

The last summit was held in South Africa in September 1998. AFP