Nam Ministerial Meeting
Hold on to Bandung principles: FM
Foreign Minster Dr Dipu Moni yesterday called upon the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam) to retain, in ethos and practice, the Bandung Principles as the driving force and political voice of the developing world.
She was presenting the country statement at the 16th Ministerial Meeting of the Nam, being held in Bali, Indonesia. Dipu Moni also reaffirmed that the principles of non-alignment constitute an article of faith for Bangladesh.
Bandung principles include mutual respect for each other, territorial integrity and sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, respect for mutual equality, and working for mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence.
Twenty-nine Asian and African states at a conference, which was a precursor to the formation of Nam and held on April 1824, 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia, unanimously adopted a 10-point declaration -- Bandung Principles.
The foreign minister also reiterated Bangladesh's principled position on Palestine, calling for an early realisation of an independent state of Palestine. She also welcomed Azerbaijan and Fiji, two recent member states of Nam.
On a shared vision for the Nam for the next 50 years, the Bangladesh foreign minister asserted that in a predominantly unipolar world marked by instabilities and tendencies of neo-colonisation, there is a need for a strong and effective Nam to establish a world order based on sovereign equality, mutual respect, and the rule of law.
Dipu Moni underlined that Nam represents 55 percent of the world's poorer population and majority of the LDCs and migrant sending countries. So it needs to strive harder to address the economic and development challenges of its member countries, she added.
The challenges include duty-and-quota-free market access for all LDCs, free movement of people under the Mode IV liberalisation of the GATs, financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and enhanced South-South cooperation.
The foreign minister is leading a four-member Bangladesh delegation to the 16th Ministerial Meeting of the Nam being held on May 23-27.
The delegation includes Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quyaes, Permanent Representative to the UN Dr Abdul Momen, Bangladesh Ambassador to Indonesia Golam Mohammad, and Director General for UN of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Saida Muna Tasneem.
The ministerial meeting was preceded by a two-day Senior Officials' Meeting, to which Bangladesh delegation was led by the foreign secretary. A total of 118 countries are participating in the ministerial and senior level meeting.
The 16th Ministerial Meeting is also commemorating 50 years of the Movement through special programmes and deliberations.
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