Cuban leader Raul Castro on Wednesday called on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to work in a coordinated and balanced form to deal with the global crisis.

"We are affected with a deep economic, social, food, energy and environmental crisis, which has turned into a global one," Castro said when inaugurating a ministerial gathering of the NAM Coordination Bureau Meeting held here.

Castro said that the solution to the current global crisis demands the "universal, democratic and equitable" participation of all the countries, terming the forthcoming high level NAM conference scheduled for early June as an indispensable framework for such a wide participation.

The Cuban leader also mentioned the need to change the international economic mechanism, noting a new order should be established.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)