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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
The NAM’s branded logo is flying everywhere in Margarita and on the Venezuelan mainland this week.
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The 17th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is under way in Venezuela, where several Caribbean and Latin American Heads of State and Government from 120 countries have gathered on a Caribbean island -- for the third time -- to come to grips with the myriad problems facing the world’s second largest grouping.
The September 13 to 18 summit, being held in the island of Margarita, got under way Tuesday with a welcome address by Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Nelcy Rodriguez.
Hosting representatives from nations worldwide, the small Venezuelan ward island is home -- for the rest of this week until Sunday -- to delegations from the second largest international body after the United Nations (UN).
The 55-year-old body today comprises 54 members from Africa, 39 from Asia, 26 from Latin America and the Caribbean and one from Europe. It also has 17 observer countries and 10 observer organizations.
Ahead of the meeting, the NAM’s Coordinating Committee held its last session on September 11 at the UN headquarters in New York, chaired by Iran, to make arrangements for the Margarita summit.
The meeting, which was held at the level of ambassadors of NAM member states, was chaired by Iran’s UN Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo.
The session produced a 194-page draft final document that includes an introduction, three chapters and 907 articles, all of which explain NAM stances on different international and regional issues.
The NAM is a group of states not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. But it constantly defends its members everywhere.
Ahead of the meeting, it firmly rejected the latest set of sanctions imposed by the United States against Venezuelan officials.
The group issued a statement denouncing the sanctions as “an intervention” in Venezuelan affairs.
It said the sanctions were “intended to undermine Venezuela's sovereignty, its political independence and its right to self-determination.”
Security personnel tighten up a street in Margarita Island, Venezuela on September 12, 2016 ahead of this weekend’s actual summit to be attended by delegations from 120 nations. (Photo courtesy: minci.gob.ve)
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The NAM said it considers the unilateral sanctions a “violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter and the basic principles of international law of relations between states.”
It also said the measure was “coercive” and expressed its solidarity with the Venezuelan people and government.
Tuesday’s meeting was the start of three stages of the summit, which begins with officials, to be followed by a later meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers and then the summit of Heads of State and Government to take place this weekend. (The Diplomatic Courier)
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
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