M. Venkaiah Naidu to lead Indian delegation at 18th NAM Summit

Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu will lead the Indian delegation at 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The summit will be held at Baku, Azerbaijan on 25 to 26 October 2019 and will be preceded by Senior Officials Meeting and Ministerial Meeting.

Highlights 18th NAM Summit

The Summit will focus on a complete set of contemporary issues like Terrorism, UN reform, threats to peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, south-south cooperation and economic governance.

Theme for Summit– ‘Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world’. The theme is significant as it relates to upcoming 65th anniversary of Bandung Principles in 2020 and 60th anniversary of NAM establishment in 2021.

What are Bandung Principles? It is a set of ten principles that were formulated at the Asian-African Conference in 1955. They are a political statement that encapsulates the need to promote world peace and cooperation.

India at NAM

The participation of Vice President would further strengthen India’s engagement with NAM and its member countries. He will deliver national statement at NAM Summit and hold bilateral meetings with other Heads of States and Governments including President of host country, Azerbaijan, on the sidelines.

Vice President will lead the delegation comprising of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, India’s Permanent Representative to United Nationsi Syed Akbaruddin and Secretary to Vice President I.V Subba Rao.

About Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

It is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After United Nations (UN), NAM is the largest grouping of states globally.

Members: It was established in 1961 in Belgrade, Serbia with 29 members and has since grown to 120 members, 17 states (observers), 10 international organisations, to become one of the largest groupings of nation-states. India is one of the founding members of NAM.

Headquarters: Central Jakarta, Indonesia

Founders: Josip Broz Tito, Kwame Nkrumah Sukarno, Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdel Nasser

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2019