The Non-Aligned Movement returns to Belgrade
A summit dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement opened in the capital of Serbia, Belgrade.
The event is attended by delegations from one hundred states and takes place at the Belgrade Fair complex, where the Non-Aligned Movement was founded at a conference in 1961.
According to a PolitNavigator correspondent, when meeting the guests of the event, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic addressed them with the words “Welcome home!”, since the first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement took place in Belgrade. And after decades, Yugoslavia, of which Serbia is considered the legal successor, acted as the unofficial leader of this organization.
“Serbia, as the legal successor of Yugoslavia, the founder of the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement, is a consistent pursuer of the policy of multilateralism and respect for international norms,” the Serbian president noted. – It is a great personal privilege and honor for Serbia that we have gathered in Belgrade, where you will feel at home. I am convinced that Belgrade, as a centuries-old symbol, a crossroads of civilizations, a point of contact between East and West for different civilizations and religions, can encourage you to dialogue and build new bridges of cooperation.”
Serbia's co-organizer in holding the summit was Azerbaijan, which, with the collapse and cessation of the existence of Yugoslavia, seized the leadership palm in the Movement. In his online address (physically the chairman country in Belgrade was represented by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov) to the audience, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke about the inviolability of borders, respect for the territorial integrity of states and accused Armenia of ethnic cleansing.
“Respect for integrity and sovereignty, refraining from aggressive actions and interference in the internal politics of another country are the basis of the Movement. These principles still apply today, and if the principles of the Movement were accepted by all countries, we would not have wars,” Aliyev said.
It should be noted that all members of the Non-Aligned Movement agreed to extend Azerbaijan's chairmanship in this organization for another year.
In turn, the guest of the summit taking place in the capital of Serbia, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement, director of the Progressive Policy Foundation, founder of the Balkanist.ru project, Oleg Bondarenko, named the main meaning of the ongoing conference.
“The main purpose of holding events in Belgrade dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement is to resume the recognition of Kosovo’s independence by those countries that are members of this organization - the states of Africa, Latin America, Asia,” Oleg Bondarenko is convinced. “Actually, this is the main point of holding this event, and I think that we should expect a resumption of this process, since the Kosovars, for their part, have not fulfilled any agreements.”
Oleg Bondarenko and Secretary of State of the Serbian Foreign Ministry Nemanja Starovic on the sidelines of the summit in Belgrade.
Let us recall that according to the Washington agreements signed in September 2020, Serbia pledged to stop the process of revoking the independence of Kosovo (at the time of signing of the agreements, these recognitions, thanks to the diplomatic activity of Belgrade, were withdrawn by 18 states of the world), in turn Kosovo - from pedaling the recognition process, as well as from the desire to join international organizations. However, after Trump left and the Democrats came to power in the United States, their Kosovo proteges, the government of Albin Kurti, unilaterally refused from the Washington Agreements, and through theirpatrons, and directly began again to persuade states that had not yet done so to recognize their independence, and also to try to break through to international organizations.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.