DUSHANBE, August 23, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon is scheduled to visit the Iranian capital Tehran in late August to attend the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that is expected to take place in Tehran from August 29-31, an official source at the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe said.
The source noted that it was still unknown whether heads of state of Tajikistan and Iran would hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the NAM summit or not. “However, taking into account friendly relations between the two countries and personal friendship between the presidents of Tajikistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, one may suggest that such a meeting will take place,” the source added.
Meanwhile, some Iranian media sources report the 16th Summit of the Non Aligned Movement will be held from August 30-31. According to Press TV, the conference attendees will include 31 heads of state, 10 foreign ministers, 4 special representatives and ambassador-level representatives of the other member nations. In this summit, Egypt will hand over the NAM”s rotating chairmanship to Iran. The Summit reportedly consists of three parts including “Senior Officials Meeting,” “Ministerial Meeting” and “Summit.”
According to
ISNA
(Iranian Students’ News Agency), Iran is to host some 30 leaders, including those of India, Egypt and Cuba, at the forthcoming NAM summit. “So far, more than 100 countries have confirmed their readiness to participate, and around 30 nations will be represented by presidents, prime ministers or vice-presidents, which is a very good number,” Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by the
ISNA
news agency.
The
Mehr
news agency quoted Iranian Vice-President, Ibrahim Azizi, as saying that “holding the event in Iran is a source of dignity.”
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012, the movement had 120 members and 21 observer countries.
The organization was founded in Belgrade in 1961, and was largely the brainchild of Yugoslavia”s president, Josip Broz Tito, India”s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt”s second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghana”s first president Kwame Nkrumah, and Indonesia”s first president, Sukarno. All five leaders were prominent advocates of a middle course for states in the Developing World between the Western and Eastern blocs in the Cold War. The phrase itself was first used to represent the doctrine by Indian diplomat and statesman V.K. Krishna Menon in 1953, at the United Nations.
