New Delhi, Aug.26 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, will be visiting Tehran, Iran, to participate in the Sixteenth Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit to be held on August 30 and 31.
Briefing media here over the weekend, Foreign Secretary Rajan Mathai said that this would be the third NAM Summit in which the Prime Minister is participating.
He revealed that Dr. Singh had earlier participated in the NAM Summit held at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in July 2009, and in the NAM Summit in Havana, Cuba, in September 2006.
Mathai said that Dr. Singh would address the Summit during the General Debate on August 30.
He said that the theme of the Tehran NAM Summit is "Lasting Peace through Joint Global Governance", and added that an interactive debate on this subject is expected during the ministerial segment of the summit on August 28 and 29.
Mathai said the Tehran Summit will also have comprehensive discussion on major global regional and sub-regional issues as well as issues relating to social and economic matters.
He said the summit meeting is expected to adopt a final document, which is a rather lengthy document, listing the movement's position on all important international issues.
"Non-alignment has been the bedrock of India's foreign policy since it was enunciated by the first Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In the post-Cold War era, when the world is no longer divided into two military blocs, the Non-Aligned Movement has a renewed role to play in the emerging world order. Today, NAM seeks to articulate the concerns of the developing countries regarding the contemporary global challenges facing the international community such as food security, protection of the environment and the reform of the institutions of global governance," said Mathai.
He further added: "As a founding-member of the Non-Aligned Movement, India has consistently striven to ensure that the Movement moves forward on the basis of cooperation and constructive engagement rather than confrontation, and that it straddles the differences of the traditional North-South divide."
"India's commitment to NAM is firm and abiding and this will be the guiding principle for our participation at the Tehran Summit," Mathai said.
The foreign secretary said that prior to this multilateral event, the Prime Minister would have bilateral engagements with the Supreme Leader and President of Iran on August 29.
"This will be the first bilateral visit at this level after 2001. India shares historical and cultural links with Iran and in recent times the relationship has expanded to include cooperation in diverse fields like hydrocarbons, trade and economic matters, consultations on important international and regional issues, cultural and people-to-people contacts," Mathai said.
He said that during the Prime Minister's meetings with the leadership of Iran, he would review the state of bilateral relations and discuss all issues of interest to India.
He also said that the Prime Minister is likely to meet representatives of the Indian community based in Iran, besides some of the leaders from other NAM countries participating in the summit, subject to scheduling arrangements because arrivals and departures of various leaders makes the time available somewhat limited.
"We expect to fix meetings with the leaders of Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan. And we are scheduling a pull-aside meeting, subject to time constraints making it possible, with the President of Egypt," said Mathai. (ANI)
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