Pretoria - International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoane-Mashabane is leading a South African delegation to the 17th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
The 17th NAM Summit opened on Tuesday in Venezuela's Caribbean island of Margarita, with representatives from 120 members participating.
The theme of the summit, which ends on Sunday, is ‘Peace, Sovereignty and Solidarity for Development’.
Founded in Belgrade in 1961, NAM is a group of states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc with a shared aim to fight imperialism, colonialism and oppression.
The NAM is the second largest international body, after the United Nations, with 53 members from Africa, 39 from Asia, 26 from Latin America and the Caribbean, two from Europe, as well as 17 observer countries and 10 observer organizations
The summit will see Venezuela, taking over the three-year presidency of NAM for the first time and becoming the third Latin American country to do so, after Cuba and Colombia, since the bloc was founded 55 years ago.
The NAM Committee on Palestine will today hold a Preparatory Ministerial Meeting were a representative will brief committee members on the current situation in Palestine after which members can respond to the briefing.
The Committee will also consider a Declaration on Palestine which will be submitted to the NAM Summit for adoption. - SAnews.gov.za
