The Hope of Oppressed People NAM Summit Ends Morning Session

Leaders and presidents of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states ended their morning session in Tehran on Thursday.

The inauguration ceremony of the 16th NAM Summit ended after speeches by Supreme Leader of 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 16th heads-of-state summit of the NAM was inaugurated with a keynote speech by Ayatollah 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 Leader Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei 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.

The Islamic Republic’s three-year tenure as head of the NAM is a chance for Tehran to elevate its international standing as the United States seeks to cripple its economy and isolate it diplomatically over its disputed nuclear program.

Many analysts say that the diplomatic spotlight will give Tehran an opportunity to show Washington has failed to cut it off from the rest of the world.

Around 110 are attending the conference and more than 45 states have sent their top officials to the heads-of-state summit.

NAM is an international organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. NAM is the largest grouping of countries outside of the United Nations.

NAM member states represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations’ members and comprise 55% of the world population, particularly countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World.