The 117-nation Non-Aligned Movementwill hold a conference next month to discuss issues affecting women in developing nations, the government announced today.

The ministerial-level meeting is expected to focus on HIV/Aids, economic development, education, armed conflict and violence against women, said women's affairs minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

Malaysia is the current chair of NAM, a grouping of mainly developing nations originally formed as an alternative to the Western and Eastern blocs during the Cold War.

The conference, entitled "Empowering Women in Facing the Challenges of Globalisation", is part of a move to "steer NAM away from traditional issues to issues which are more relevant to the context of our times," said Hasmy Agam, NAM's Malaysian ambassador-at-large.

"We feel that when there is no more East-West conflict, and NAM still wants to be relevant... this is one area where we feel that NAM countries can cooperate together and share experiences."

Learning from African nations

The four-day conference will be held in the administrative capital of Putrajaya from May 7.

"We are giving a lot of attention to HIV/Aids, because Malaysia and other countries in Asia have a lot to learn from our African counterparts," Shahrizat told a news conference.

"HIV/Aids and women's empowerment is very important. If you look at the figures, it is alarming."

The World Health Organisation estimated that some 19.2 million women were living with HIV/Aids worldwide by the end of 2003, she said.