Details added (first version posted on 11:28)
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 30
Trend:
The Non-Aligned Movement Mid-Term Ministerial Conference will be held in Baku on April 5-6 under the theme of “Promoting international peace and security for sustainable development”, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend March 30.
Senior Officials meeting will be held on April 3-4 as a part of the preparation process for the Ministerial Conference, he said.
NAM participating states, representatives of observer states and international organizations, countries and institutions invited as special guests will take part in the Mid-Term Ministerial Conference.
NAM includes 120 states. Seventeen states and 10 international organizations have an observer status in NAM.
NAM Mid-Term Ministerial Conference, to be held in Baku, is expected to be attended by 800 participants. More than 150 representatives of local and foreign media have been registered to cover the event.
“Azerbaijan is committed to the spirit and principles of the Non-Aligned Movement,” Hajiyev said. “The country pursues a foreign policy course aimed at developing partnerships with all states and pursues a balanced policy without joining any military bloc. Therefore, in 2011, the country decided to become a full-fledged member of the Non-Aligned Movement, where it had an observer status.”
In 2019, the Republic of Azerbaijan will host the 18th Summit of the NAM and will be chairing NAM in 2019-2022, he said.
“The 18th Summit of the NAM, to be held in Baku in 2019, has a great symbolic significance as well,” he noted. “Thus, 30 years after the Belgrade summit in 1989, the European continent will have an opportunity to again receive the heads of state and government of the countries participating in the NAM.”
Hajiyev noted that the processes taking place on the European continent bring the importance of promoting the principles, goals and intentions of the NAM to the agenda in Europe as well.
“The NAM established to prevent involvement of a number of states in the confrontation between the two military-political poles during the Cold War has now become one of the important multilateral mechanisms for regulating international relations,” he added. “Since its creation, the NAM has played a vital role in strengthening international peace and security. The NAM, the main goal of which is the maintenance of peace, security and development on the basis of respect for international law, is becoming increasingly relevant and the position agreed upon in the Movement itself plays a significant role in terms of influencing decision-making within the UN General Assembly.”
“Many of the most important achievements of the 20th century, such as the elimination of colonialism and the creation of a global social development agenda, are on a par with several important contributions to the world made by the NAM,” Hajiyev said.
“The role of the forum of cooperation among the NAM members is one of the main principles of the Movement’s creation and activities,” he noted. “Azerbaijan’s holding the NAM Mid-Term Ministerial Conference April 3-6 this year and the Baku summit in 2019, as well as the country’s chairmanship in the NAM in 2019-2022, will make significant contribution to the promotion of the goals and intentions of the NAM, strengthening of international peace, security and cooperation.”