Ali Akbar Velayati made the comment in a Tuesday address at the opening session of the 1st International Scientific Conference on NAM, emphasizing that the movement “needs to undergo reforms and changes in terms of its infrastructure and content.”
“One of the current problems in the movement is the lack of a permanent secretariat, which must be fundamentally dealt with,” said Velayati, who also serves as Secretary General of the International Islamic Awakening Conference.
He further emphasized that the upcoming NAM summit in Tehran will serve as a good opportunity to discuss and plan such reforms.
The Iranian official also described NAM as the source of many developments across the globe since its inception and expressed optimism that the movement’s Tehran summit in August would serve as a turning point in the extent of its international influence.
Velayati described NAM as a major obstacle in the way of a move towards a bipolar world and stressed the need to reinforce the movement in the face of various regional and global alliances, noting that today NATO is making efforts to expand its territory and surround China’s geographical borders.
He went on to highlight the significance of the Islamic awakening movements and their influence on events in regional countries such as Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, describing the influence of Egypt, as one of the major elements of NAM’s emergence, in the Arab world as “undeniable.”
The first international scientific conference is one of the preliminary meetings prior to the 16th NAM summit.
The summit will be held in Tehran on August 26-31, during which the Islamic Republic will also assume the rotating presidency of the movement for three years.
NAM, an international organization with 120 member states and 17 observer countries, is considered as not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.
NAM’s objective, as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979, is to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries.”
MFB/GHN/AZ
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