KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar on Saturday urged member countries of the 45-year-old Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to play their due role actively instead of questioning the continued relevance of the movement.

    In a world dominated by one super power, the NAM's existence isvital in efforts to further promote and strengthen multilateralism while checking unilateralism "which is encroaching more and more on the international scene," Albar said.

    The foreign minister made the remarks when opening the Preparatory Meeting of Senior Officials for the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordinating Bureau at the Putrajaya International Convention Center.

    Noting the fact that the movement's relevance has been persistently questioned, both by NAM members as well as its critics, since the end of the Cold War, Albar stressed these questioning remarks and acts have done a disservice to the movement to the point of undermining it.

    In fact, NAM's current large membership of 114 bears the clear testimony to its continued relevance, said Albar, adding two more members will be added during the meeting.

    He urged those member countries to continue to wage their struggle to achieve the goals set up by the NAM and address challenges facing the movement.

    "The objective reality of today's world is that the existing international systems and institutions are still heavily tilted towards the developed countries, while the developing world continues to be sidelined or marginalized and is left behind in anever-widening gap," Albar said.

    The Preparatory Meeting of Senior Officials is the first event for the four-day Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordinating Bureau, which prepares for the 14th Conference of the Heads of States of the NAM to be held in Havana, Cuba, in September.

    At the two-day senior officials' meeting, delegates are expected to finalize the draft of the Final Document for the ministerial meeting next week.

    About 90 member countries of the 114-strong movement have decided to send delegates for the ministerial meeting themed "Towards a More Dynamic and Cohesive NAM: Challenges of the 21st Century", according to the Malaysian foreign ministry.

    Malaysia became the 13th NAM Chairman in the 2003, taking over South Africa, and is expected to hand over the power to Cuba in September.

    Currently, the NAM has 17 observing countries and seven observer organizations, said the Malaysian foreign ministry. Enditem