NAM summit backs Iran’s nuclear program

The final communiqué of the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was adopted unanimously on Friday, has expressed support for Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad read out the resolution, which included over seven-hundred clauses, during the final session of the summit on Friday night, Press TV reported.

The final communiqué expressed support for Iran’s nuclear energy program, rejected the United States’ unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic, and called for greater efforts to support the Palestinian cause.

The need to combat Islamophobia and racism throughout the world as well as global nuclear disarmament were some of the other key issues mentioned in the document.

In the final statement, the NAM states also condemned all forms of terrorism, including state-sponsored terrorism, declared that the structure of the United Nations should be revised, and said every country has the right to have a peaceful nuclear energy program.

In addition, the NAM states said that any attack on the nuclear facilities of any country would be a serious threat to humanity and the environment and would be a violation of international law, the UN Charter, and the International Atomic Energy Agency Statute.

The final communiqué also stated that Venezuela has been chosen to host the next NAM summit.

In the closing ceremony, President Ahmadinejad hailed the resolution as “effective and historic” and expressed his gratitude to all of the participants of the summit, which he said had a very important message for the entire world.

The draft of the resolution was drawn up and approved during the NAM meetings of senior officials and foreign ministers, which were held earlier in the week.

Over 100 countries sent representatives to the NAM summit, which kicked off on Sunday with a two-day expert-level meeting in the Iranian capital, followed by a foreign ministerial meeting that ended on Wednesday.

Iran assumed the rotating presidency of NAM for a three-year term on Thursday, when the meeting of heads of state and government opened with an inaugural speech by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

NAM is an international organization with 120 member states that is not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. Nearly two-thirds of the countries of the UN are also NAM members.