ZCZC
BSS-07
PM-NAM SUMMIT
18th NAM Summit kicks off, Bangladesh PM joins
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct 25, 2019 (BSS) – The 18th Summit of the Non-
Aligned Movement (NAM) kicked off here this morning with a call to uphold the
spirit of the forum and strengthen cooperation among its member states.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the two-day summit of the
NAM, a forum of 120 developing countries, at Baku Congress Centre in the
Azerbaijan capital of Baku.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined the opening ceremony of
the summit alongwith other heads of state and government and representatives
of the member states of the NAM at the Plenary Hall of Baku Cengress Centre.
On her arrival at the centre at 10 am, Sheikh Hasina was received by the
Azerbaijan president.
The other world leaders who joined the summit included Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Malaysian Prime Minister
Dr Mahathir Mohammed, Djibouti President Ismail Omar, Ghanaian President Nana
Akufo-Addo, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Pakistani President Arif
Alvi, Indian Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Turkmenistan President
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and
Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Libyan Prime
Minister Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the current chairperson of the NAM,
delivered the opening remarks at the inaugural session of the summit.
After his speech, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev was elected chairman
unopposed of the NAM for the next three years.
After being elected the chairman, he pledged to build the NAM on the
basis of Bandung principles.
President of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly Tijjani
Muhammad-Bande also spoke at the opening session of the summit.
The hosts of the summit Azerbaijan, located at the crossroads of Eastern
Europe and Western Asia and populated by 10 million people, is a multi-ethnic
and multi-religious country, where 96 percent of its citizens are Muslims.
At the outset of the opening session of the summit, a minute’s silence
was observed as a mark of profound respect to the memory of the NAM leaders
who passed away since the 17th NAM Summit held in Venezuela in 2016.
The theme of general debate of the 18th NAM is “Upholding the Bandung
Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of
contemporary world”.
Sheikh Hasina will join Working Luncheon for heads of the delegation at
the Luncheon Hall of the centre and the Plenary Session.
In the evening, the prime minister will attend the official reception to
be hosted by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev at Heydar Aliyev Center.
On the sidelines of the NAM Summit, the prime minister will call on her
Malaysian counterpart Dr Mahathir Mohammed this afternoon.
The NAM is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally
aligned with or against any major power bloc. It has 17 observer countries
and 10 observer organisations.
The forum is the second biggest organization after the UN. Today,
approximately 55 percent of the world’s population lives in the NAM member-
states.
These countries possess more than 75 percent of the world’s oil reserves
and more than 50 percent of gas reserves, as well as the biggest human and
natural resources.
Drawing on the principles agreed at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia
in 1955, the NAM was established in 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia through an
initiative of the then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and ex-Yugoslav
President Josip Broz Tito.
Venezuela’s Margarita Island hosted the 17th NAM Summit in 2016.
NAM was founded during the collapse of the colonial system and the
independence struggles of the peoples of Africa, Asia, Latin America and
other regions of the world and at the height of the Cold War.
Its actions were a key factor in the decolonisation process, which later
led to the attainment of freedom and independence by many countries and
people and to the founding of tens of new sovereign states.
Throughout its history, the NAM has played a fundamental role in the
preservation of world peace and security.
The chairmanship of NAM will be built on three main priorities, among
others increasing the effectiveness of the Movement to further enhance the
reputation of the organisation on the global stage.
Other priorities are the promotion of the Bandung principles and the
strengthening of the unity within the Movement.
BSS/SH/IJ/1445 hrs