Venezuela prepares itself for the Ministerial Meeting of the NAM Coordination Bureau

Between July 20 and 21, the city of Caracas, in Venezuela, will host the Ministerial Meeting of the Coordination Bureau of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries (NAM) a platform of political agreement that advocates the strengthening of international security, the self-determination of peoples and that rejects interference and that is configured as the second largest body in the world, after the United Nations Organization. Under the slogan ‘Promotion and Consolidation of Peace through Respect for International Law’, the forum will host 120 member states of the Movement in the city of Caracas, in addition to international organizations belonging to the NAM, observer countries, invited countries, international organizations with observer status, and all those organizations and personalities that were invited to the event as special guests. On July 18 and 19, the delegations will hold high level preparatory meetings for the 20 and 21 Meeting. During this last segment, the Ministers of each of the member countries of the international platform, will evaluate the agreements to be signed later by the heads of state next October -the date when Venezuela delivers the presidency of the NAM to Azerbaijan-. As part of the working methodology of the Movement, the meetings of the Coordination Bureau are held prior to the holding of a summit of Heads of State, in order to agree on positions. Origin of the Mnoal The Movement of Non-Aligned Countries has its origin in the Bandung Conference, held in Indonesia in 1955, where heads of state from different countries met to identify and evaluate the global problems of that time -during the Cold War- in order to develop joint policies -preservation of peace- in international relations. Six years after the Bandung Conference, on a wider geographical basis, the Non-Aligned Movement was established at the First Belgrade Summit, held in September 1961. The Conference -which came to be known as the ‘initiative of the five’- was driven by the governments of Ghana, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Indonesia and India; pretending at that moment to go against the current of the two world powers of the Cold War, that was, the United States and the extinct Soviet Union. In September 2016, Venezuela assumed the presidency of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries, by Iran, in what was the XVII Summit held on the Island of Margarita-Venezuela between September 13 and 18 of that year, under the premise of promoting and defending world peace. During the three years of the Venezuelan presidency, the country promoted and praised the principles enshrined in the Bandung Conference, recalling that for a more just and egalitarian world it is necessary to defend peace, self-determination of peoples and raise the flags of multilateralism as it is established in the Charter of the United Nations. Transfer of the NAM presidency This year, in the month of October – during the Baku Summit – Venezuela is expected to hand over the presidency of the NAM to the Republic of Azerbaijan so that it can continue to forge and promote the principles of the Movement. To date, the Non-Aligned Movement is the second most important international bloc of great international relevance, after the United Nations (UN). A valuable feature that allows the member countries to direct agreements regarding political, economic and social issues in favor of the interests of emerging nations.