NAM summit starts, President to address world leaders

The Heads of State Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement opens in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt today at the Congress Center. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is leading Sri Lanka’s delegation to this major gathering of world leaders. This is the first major world summit attended by the President after the Security Forces defeated the LTTE two months ago.

The NAM, now meeting for the 15th time, is likely to focus on the world economic and financial crises, terrorism and other issues of global importance. The NAM is a gathering of 118 mainly developing nations from around the world. Sri Lanka has always played a pivotal role in the NAM.

The Chair of NAM will be handed over to the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak from the President of Cuba Raul Castro. Egypt will hold the Chair for the next three years.

President Rajapaksa is due to address the general debate on International Solidarity for Peace and Development. The main topic of the debate is the Current Global Economic and Financial Crises. In his address, the President is likely to call on the NAM and the world community to take pragmatic steps to address these issues. He is also expected to dwell on how Sri Lanka defeated terrorism. Many other leaders are also expected to speak on the subject of global terrorism.

In addition to addressing the Summit, he will have several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the NAM Summit. His meeting with the UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon will be especially significant as Moon was in Sri Lanka almost immediately after the victory of the Forces, to see for himself the ground situation in the North and welfare facilities for the IDPs.

President Rajapaksa is expected to have bilateral talks with the President of Serbia, Boris Tadic and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Gilam.

Another significant highlight will be a meeting between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India. The summit's draft declaration calls for the group to coordinate with China — attending the summit as an observer — to have their voices heard in meetings of international financial institutions.