PM arrives in Egypt for XVth NAM Summit

Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), July 15 (ANI): Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh arrived in Egypt late on Tuesday night to attend the two-day XVth Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit.

Issues like global economic downturn, terrorism, climate change and food security are expected to be on top of the agenda at the Summit.

Other summit themes are international solidarity for peace and development and current economic and financial crisis. It would also focus in comprehensive manner on global regional and sub-regional issues, besides issues relating to development, human rights and social issues.

Dr. Singh will address the plenary session of the NAM Summit, and has already underlined India's commitment to help revitalise the NAM, which had a renewed role to play in the emerging world order following the end of the Cold War.

On the sidelines of the Summit, Dr. Singh will meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday morning. He will also have other bilateral meetings.

A NAM First Ladies' Summit would also take place at the initiative of Egypt in which the Prime Minister's wife, Gurusharan Kaur, would participate. The theme of this meeting would be Women in Crisis Management - Perspectives and Challenges, Best Practices and Lessons Learned.

Egypt's First Lady Suzane Mubarak would anchor the meeting that would focus on the role of women in the context of the global economic and food, health and humanitarian crises. Heads of UN Agencies: the FAO, the WFP, the WHO, and the ITU are expected to make brief statements during the two separate sessions of the First Ladies' Summit.

The NAM is an international organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

The movement is largely the brainchild of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdul Nasser, former president of Egypt and Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito. It was founded in April 1955 and as of 2007, it has 118 members.

The purpose of the organization as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics."

They represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations's members and comprise 55 percent of the world population, particularly countries considered to be developing or part of the third world. By Smita Prakash (ANI)