Summit of Non-Aligned Movement Gets Underway in Baku

Jerusalem, 27 October, 2019 (TPS) -- By: AZERTAC

The 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement member countries has today kicked off in Baku.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev welcomed heads of state and government who attend the Summit.

The heads of state and government posed together for a group photo.

Current chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro opened the Summit.
Held under the motto “Upholding Bandung principles to ensure a coherent and adequate response to the challenges of the modern world”, the Summit brings together heads of state and government from nearly 60 countries, as well as heads of international organizations.
Representatives of about 160 countries and international organizations attend the event.

Adoption of 4 final documents is expected at the Summit.

The Non-Aligned Movement emerged in the context of the wave of decolonization that followed World War II. At the 1955 Bandung Conference (the Asian-African Conference), the conference’s attendees, many of whose countries had recently gained their independence, called for “abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defence to serve the particular interests of any of the big powers.”

Azerbaijan became full-fledged member of the Movement in May 2011.

Azerbaijan, which hosts the 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, will chair the structure in 2019-2022.