Cuba to host 2006 Non-Aligned Movement Summit

thestar.com.my Saturday, February 22, 2003

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Cuba has been chosen to host the next summit of the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement, officials said Saturday.

That means that Havana will receive the movement's presidency when it hosts the next summit in 2006, said Milos Alcalay, Venezuela's representative to the United Nations.

Cuba last hosted the summit in 1979.

The presidency is rotated every few years among the group's major regions: Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The decision to appoint Cuba was made by the movement's Caribbean and Latin American bloc during preparations for Non-Aligned Movement leaders summit Monday and Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur.

No other countries challenged Havana's bid, Alcalay said.

The communist island has spoken out against any U.S.-led attack on Iraq, which has been the focus of this year's summit.

South Africa is handing the presidency to Malaysia this year.

The movement was created in 1955 to pave a neutral path between the United States and the Soviet bloc during the Cold War.

It is trying to reinvent itself as a forum for developing countries facing the onslaught of globalization. - AP