BAKU: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli attended the inaugural session of the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that began with an official opening ceremony at the Baku Congress Centre this afternoon.
Upon arrival at the BCC premises, PM Oli was welcomed by the host, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Prime Minister Oli was joined by his spouse Radhika Shakya on the occasion.
Prime Minister Oli is scheduled to address the General Debate of the 18th NAM Summit later today.
The general debate is being held on the theme of “Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world”. He will also be holding bilateral talks with visiting Heads of State and Government of different countries.
As many as 25 Heads of State and Government as well as 150 Delegates including senior government officials from 120 member countries, and representatives of the 17 observer countries and 10 observer organizations are taking part in the Summit.
Following the inauguration by current Chair, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Noclas Maduro, Azerbaijan was elected the new Chair of the NAM for the next three years. NAM Chair Maduro’s proposal to elect President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev as the next chair for three years was unanimously endorsed by the participating heads of delegation of the member states.
President of the UN General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande also addressed the inaugural session of the NAM summit, calling upon NAM to become the voice of reason and moderation and work towards the promotion of international peace and security.
“I request NAM to come up with ideal solutions to many of the problems facing not only NAM countries but all member states of the UN,” he said.
It may be noted that Prime Minister Oli is leading a 21-member Nepali delegation to the 18th NAM summit. The Nepali delegation includes Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister Bishnu Rimal, Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Rajan Bhattarai, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations Amrit Rai and senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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