Jalili Urges Strategic Cooperation among NAM Members

(FNA)- Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili stressed the importance of strategic cooperation among Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states against the expansionist polices of hegemonic powers.

Speaking at a meeting with India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon here in Tehran on Wednesday, Jalili stressed that NAM enjoys high capacities "to influence international interactions and create a new shared world order based on justice".

He further urged stronger cooperation among NAM founders, including Iran and India, to devise and create proper economic, financial and security mechanisms and structures.

"Foreign states should not be allowed to prevent unity and strategic cooperation among NAM members through their ill intentions."

Shivshankar, too, stressed Iran's key role in the movement, and voiced New Delhi's determination to continue cooperation with Tehran.

NAM was founded in Belgrade in 1961 by Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito, Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah, and Indonesian president Sukarno, all legends of the national liberation movement, with solid anti-imperial credentials, who advocated a middle course for the developing world between the Western and Eastern blocs in the Cold War.

Its principles are solidarity and peaceful resolution of conflicts, though it was founded as a counterweight to the superpowers, abjuring big power military alliances and pacts.

The movement is publicly committed to sustainable development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, making international financial decision-making more democratic, easing poor countries' debt burden, making trade fairer and increasing foreign aid.

By hosting the conference and taking on the responsibility for NAM leadership, Iran is clearly intent on injecting new life into the most important anti-imperialist international organization.