Iran, next president of NAM states: Deputy FM

Tehran, June 13, IRNA – A senior official at Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that Tehran would take over presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement member states in coming months.

Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Mohammad-Mehdi Akhoundzadeh made the announcement in his opening speech at the second International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

The international event kicked off here earlier on Sunday in the presence of Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi.

Participants of the two-day conference are a number of foreign envoys residing in Tehran and experts from 40 world countries who would review the existing challenges of disarmament and weapons of mass destruction.

Reviewing nuclear doctrines adopted by different world states, discussing international commitments regarding elimination of weapons of mass destruction as well as presenting proposals for disarmament will be among major issues to be discussed during three experts meetings of the conference.

Representatives from several international bodies including the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are also present in the gathering.

“Iran’s leadership over NAM member states would help world community achieve the goal of creating a nuclear-free world,” Akhoundzadeh said.

Meanwhile, Gholam-Hossein Dehqani, secretary of the conference, was another speaker of the opening ceremony who referred to the international event as a “step towards saving humanity from the atomic threat.”/end