KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) should discuss ways of forging a more effective partnership between South-South developing countries and their more developed neighbors of the North, said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar on Saturday.

    Malaysia would like to see the subject of forging South-North partnership discussed at the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordinating Bureau (MAM-CoB), Syed said after opening the NAM-CoB Senior Officials Meeting at the Putrajaya International Convention Center.

    Such a partnership is important as it will contribute to addressing development issues such as eradication of poverty and illiteracy as well as debt repayment faced by developing countries, said the foreign minister.

    "It is important that the development issue is given attention too so that we will be able to alleviate such problems," Syed told reporters.

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

    In addition, 12 out of 17 observing countries and four out of the seven observer organizations have agreed to participate, said the Malaysian foreign ministry.

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