By Smita Prakash

Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt), July 15(ANI): The XVth Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit began here on Wednesday. Heads of Government of 118 developing nations will discuss issues related to the global economic downturn, terrorism, climate change and food security during the summit.

Other summit themes would be international solidarity for peace and development and current economic and financial crisis. It would also focus in comprehensive manner on global regional and sub-regional issues, besides issues relating to development, human rights and social issues.

Dr. Singh will address the plenary session of the NAM Summit this afternoon, and has already underlined India’s commitment to help revitalise the NAM, which had a renewed role to play in the emerging world order following the end of the Cold War.

Singh would also meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday.

A NAM First Ladies’ Summit is also taking place at the initiative of Egypt in which the Prime Minister’s wife, Gurusharan Kaur, would participate. The theme of this meeting would be Women in Crisis Management - Perspectives and Challenges, Best Practices and Lessons Learned.

Egypt’s First Lady Suzane Mubarak would anchor the meeting that would focus on the role of women in the context of the global economic and food, health and humanitarian crises. Heads of UN Agencies: the FAO, the WFP, the WHO, and the ITU are expected to make brief statements during the two separate sessions of the First Ladies’ Summit.

The NAM is an international organization of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

The movement is largely the brainchild of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdul Nasser, former president of Egypt and Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito. It was founded in April 1955 and as of 2007, it has 118 members.

The purpose of the organization as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure “the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries” in their “struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics.”

They represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations’s members and comprise 55 percent of the world population, particularly countries considered to be developing or part of the third world. (ANI)