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Cuba to use summit of the Non-Aligned Movement group to Rally Developing Nations, Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez Roque said.

By Guillermo Parra-Bernal

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Cuba will seek the backing of developing countries to wrestle economic and political pressure by the world's biggest powers at a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement group this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Felipe Perez Roque said.

Cuba, which takes over the presidency of the 118-nation group from Malaysia at a summit in Havana, will propose an agenda that includes cutting developing nations' dependence on imported energy and fighting trade policies imposed by the U.S. and other developed countries, said Perez Roque.

He added that Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who's recovering from stomach surgery, may attend some of the summit's events.

``If we unify positions and work together for the defense of our positions, then we will be able to play a bigger role in the international stage,'' said Perez Roque, 41, a former Communist Youth leader.

Cuba is taking the helm of the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of countries that represent about 60 percent of the world's population and two-thirds of the seats at the General Assembly of the United Nations, at a time of increasing opposition to U.S. policies in the Middle East and Latin America.

Tito, Nasser, Nehru

The Non-Aligned Movement lost much of its influence since the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Perez Roque says only by sticking together on issues before the UN may the group be able to revitalize itself.

Asked whether the summit would be used as a ``bashing'' of U.S. policies, Perez Roque said that ``there will be no attack of any country in particular.''

He added, ``We have the right to denounce the arrogant language of a super power that has secret jails around the world, that mistreats prisoners, that invades other countries illegally and that intimidate nations.''

He said St. Kitts and Nevis, an island state in the Caribbean, as well as Haiti are slated to join the group during the summit.

The group was founded by Josip Broz Tito, then the ruler of Yugoslavia, Indonesia's Sukarno, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser and India's Jawaharlal Nehru and 20 other leaders in 1961 as a way of distancing Third World countries from both the Soviet and Western power blocs during the Cold War.

Castro, Cuba's leader since Jan. 1, 1959, underwent surgery and gave his brother Raul, 75, temporary control of the government on July 31. Fidel Castro remains Cuba's main representative to the summit, Perez Roque said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Guillermo Parra-Bernal in Havana, Cuba at the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement or at gparra@bloomberg.net