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16th NAM Summit starts in Tehran

Dunya News

Iran on Thursday lifted the curtain on a summit of non-aligned states.

The meeting of the heads of state at the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has kicked off in the Iranian capital, Tehran, with an inaugural speech by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.More than 100 countries are taking part in the NAM summit, which kicked off at the expert level in Tehran on Sunday.A total of 29 heads of state or government attended the opening, including those of Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority, Sudan, Qatar and Zimbabwe. North Korea was represented by its ceremonial head of state, parliamentary president Kim Yong-Nam, rather than the countrys leader Kim Jong-Un.The other three quarters of the NAM members were represented by senior officials: vice presidents, deputy prime ministers, foreign ministers and envoys.The meeting of the heads of state will discuss the draft document, which mainly focused on the Palestinian issue and the Syria unrest.It was also likely to slam Western sanctions imposed on Iran and a handful of other NAM states -- Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe -- and underline the right of all countries to supervised, peaceful nuclear energy, according to draft documents.NAM, an international organization with 120 member states, is considered as not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.It represents nearly two-thirds of the UN members.