By R.Ravichandran
KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 (NNN-Bernama) — The Azerbaijani chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement (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, said the republic’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
The minister said other priorities are the promotion of the Bandung principles and the strengthening of the unity within the Movement, which now has 120 member countries, 17 observer countries and 10 observer organisations.
“I am confident that our chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement will create additional opportunities for us to present our country’s position at international level. The Movement has 120 members which make up two-thirds of the UN member states and which means the ability to influence any decision-making process,” he said.
The Azerbaijan Foreign Minister said this in a reply in an exclusive interview with Bernama International News Service in conjunction with Azerbaijan’s 100 Years of Diplomatic Service. He was asked how Azerbaijan views its new role as the chairman of NAM and its role in promoting international peace and security.
Azerbaijan joined the Non-Aligned Movement in 2011, with the aim to develop international cooperation.
“It is praiseworthy that in a very short time our country was not only able to introduce itself within the organisation but also to chair the Non-Aligned Movement for the term 2019-2022,” the minister said, adding that NAM is an organisation with a rich history and many well-known historical state leaders.
Mammadyarov said several initiatives of Azerbaijan was supported in the final document of the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM member states held in April 2018 in Baku.
“And the importance of the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of the internationally recognised borders of Azerbaijan in accordance with the United Nations Security Council’s four resolutions was reiterated in this document,” he said.
Mammadyarov pointed out that the chairmanship of the Movement will also create appropriate opportunities for the implementation of various initiatives from Azerbaijan, and the implementation of these initiatives will serve to further enhance Azerbaijan’s international reputation.
BACKGROUND
The 18th NAM Summit and related meetings will be held in Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku, from October 21-26.
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 per cent of its citizens are Muslims.
NAM, which had its first summit in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1961, was formed at the height of the Cold War as an independent path in international politics for those countries wishing to be free from the influence of superpowers which were led by the Soviet Union and the United States at that time, and not becoming pawns in their ideological rivalry.
The founding fathers of NAM are Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Jawaharlal Nehru (India), Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) and Sukarno (Indonesia).
The NAM has its basic concepts originating from the Asian-African Conference – also known as Bandung Conference – held in Indonesia in 1955, which was the cornerstone for the movement’s formation later, which, among others, fought for respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, recognition of the equality among all races and all nations and non-intervention or non-interference into the internal affairs of another country.
Malaysia hosted the 13th NAM Summit in 2003 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
NNN– BERNAMA