Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks upon arrival in the Azerbaijan’s capital Baku Wednesday night to take part in a NAM Mid-Term Intermediate Ministerial Conference scheduled for April 5-6 under the theme of “Promoting International Peace and Security for Sustainable Development”.
More than 800 delegates are taking part in the conference, including foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, India, Palestine, Ecuador, as well as President of the UN General Assembly Miroslav Lajčák.
Zarif deemed the conference a good opportunity for NAM member states to evaluate the latest international developments.
He noted that the Palestinian issue, especially with regards to the recent Israeli attack on a peaceful protest in Gaza which killed 20 people, as well as Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Israeli regime, will be discussed during the NAM conference.
“Another important issue for NAM is the emphasis on multilateralism,” Zarif said. “We are once again witness to US’s earnest pursuit of a unilateral policy which poses a threat to the international peace and security.”
Another issue to be addressed by NAM is nuclear disarmament, Zarif added. “The Trump’s administration, by having allocated huge amounts of money for reconstruction of nuclear weapons and the emphasis on the use of nuclear weapons, is destroying all that was achieved in the past years in combatting nuclear proliferation.”
“This is an important issue that the Non-Aligned Movement must address,” Zarif stressed.
MS/4263449