Friday, September 15 2006 12:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Havana: As the summit of Non-Aligned grouping begins, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday the NAM must make a constructive contribution to the new world order free from fear and war and the time has come not to divide the world further but to reduce tensions.

He said there was new anxiety in the world on how to deal with terror and the role of non-state actors and the NAM must live up to its new potential in the highly uncertain, insecure world that was prevailing now.

Talking to reporters on way from Brasilia to Havana, Singh said non-alignment was a state of mind to think independently about options and widen development choices --and in that sense NAM was relevant today as it was before.

He said soon after the end of the cold war era there was complacency in the western world that capitalism would solve all problems but now there was a new anxiety in the world on how to deal with the problem of terror and the role of non-state actors.



"The future of humanity is being increasingly questioned and people are talking about a clash of civilisations, people have also been talking of evil empires. So, I do believe that cold war may have ended and the NAM, comprising 116 countries representing all regions of the world, can help and make a constructive contribution to building a new world order free from fear, want and poverty," the Prime Minister said.

"NAM must live up to its new potential in the highly uncertain, insecure world that we live in," he said.

Asked about reported comments of the Cuban Foreign Minister that after the summit, the 116-member grouping would become an 'axis of evil' in the yes of the US, Singh said it was not proper for him to react to some casual remarks made.

"I think the time has come not to divide the world further but to adopt approaches which would reduce tensions that threaten to destroy our civilisation as a whole," he said.