Iraqi FM Arrives in Tehran

Tehran, Aug 28, IRNA – Republic of Iraq’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hoshyar Zebari arrived in Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport Tuesday morning to attend the 16th NAM Foreign Ministers Conference. The Iraqi top diplomat, who is heading a high-ranking delegation, was received by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Middle East and Persian Gulf Office. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, too, is scheduled to arrive in Tehran within the next few days to attend the XVI Tehran NAM Summit. That is while it was earlier announced that the Republic of Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani would head for the NAM Summit, but due to his ailment, he could not attend the event. The two day NAM Foreign Ministers Conference would begin in Tehran on Tuesday. The XVI Tehran NAM Summit Meeting would be held at the Tehran Summits Hall on Thursday August 30th and Friday August 31st. The Non-Aligned Movement, the rotating presidency of which was conferred to Iran on August 26, is a major international organization comprising 120 member states that represent the political, cultural, economic and social interests of the developing world. The movement which is consisted of two third of the UN member states was established in 1961 in Belgrade and despite the fact that the majority of its members are developing nations, many of them play a defining and determining role in such strategic regions as the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America. Over the past weeks, Iranian President has been sending envoys to different NAM member countries to invite their heads of state and government to attend the forthcoming summit in Tehran. The latest NAM summit was held in Egypt’s Sharm al-Sheikh from July 11-16, 2009 and Tehran will host representatives from 100 of the 120 countries in the forthcoming gathering./end