NAM Summit Kicks off Afternoon Session

The leaders and presidents of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states continued their talks in Tehran in an afternoon session of the summit.

The 16th heads-of-state summit of the NAM started work on Thursday morning under Iran’s presidency, a platform for anti-Western sentiments and grievances over big-power domination.

The inauguration ceremony of the 16th NAM Summit ended after speeches by The Leader Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the previous and current presidents of the NAM, as well as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President of the UN General Assembly Nasser Abdulaziz and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Egyptian president delivered the NAM’s presidency to Iran after addressing the audience in the inauguration ceremony of the NAM summit in Tehran today.

The summit of the NAM was inaugurated with a keynote speech by The Leader Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, in which he praised the founders of the NAM and its operation in the last 60 years, but said the movement should boost its international role and clout through increased operations and fresh movements.

The Leader Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei said the world is entering a new era and the NAM should play a bigger role in this new world, adding that all world countries should have a share in global management.

“States should raise their relations on the basis of common interests and not threat and intimidation,” The Leader Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei stressed.

The Supreme Leader said the world should not be ruled by a few number of “bullying powers”.

The Leader Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei said the “UN Security Council has a completely unfair structure, and the US and its allies have been misusing this unfair structure to materialize their interests”.

The NAM summit started at 10:30 local time (0600 GMT) at the Leaders’ Summit Hall in Northern Tehran and will last for two days.

The summit is being held after a two-day experts meeting and a foreign ministerial meeting of the NAM member states which also lasted for two days.

The United States and Israel are among the nations fearful that the summit drawing a reported 50 or more heads of state and government will give Tehran a boost in legitimacy and rally disgruntled states to its defense of its nuclear programs.