"Yes, the Preparatory Senior Officials Meeting is held behind closed doors to discuss the final document of the NAM Summit held in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, and prepare a Declaration on Palestine," Sunu M. Soemarno, chairman of the NAM meeting`s organizing committee, said here Monday.
The senior officials meeting will be followed by a Commemorative Meeting expected to produce a Bali Commemorative Declaration (BCD) to mark the 50th anniversary of NAM.
The theme of the 16th NAM ministerial meeting and the Commemorative meeting is "Shared Vision on the Contribution of NAM for The next 50 years."
"The meeting will certainly also review the NAM progress since the Summit in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, in July 2009," he said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to officially open the 16th NAM Ministerial Meeting in Nusa Dua, Wednesday (May 25).
"At present, almost 60 percent of the United Nations (UN) members are NAM members. Active participation of the NAM member countries are required to find global solutions to challenges such as the energy crisis, financial crisis, food security, climate change, pandemic, migration and disarmament," he said.
"Therefore, at its age of 50 years, NAM must determine its vision for the next 50 years, to actively participate in dealing with global challenges and at the same time find the solutions," he said.
The NAM meeting`s organizing committee has invited 118 member countries, Fiji and Azerbaijan as the new members, 18 observer countries (such as Argentine, Bosnia, Brazil, China, Serbia, Mexico and Ukraine), 10 observer organizations (among others the African Union, the United Nations, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference - OIC), 26 guest countries (such as the United States, Japan, and Russia), and 23 guest organizations (among others UNIDO, UNESCAP, and ICRC).
NAM was founded in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1961, to forge solidarity, boost confidence and unite visions of 25 developing countries joining the Belgrade meeting. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
