Kathmandu, Oct 12: Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka addressed the High-level Commemorative Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on the occasion of its 60th anniversary held in Belgrade, the Republic of Serbia on Monday.    

At the meeting, Minister Khadka, in his address, stated that sixty years down the road, while NAM has achieved bringing freedom, independence and democracy for countries, the world today is witnessing rising ethnic and intra-state conflict, violent extremism, terrorism, climate change, economic recession and financial vulnerability, widening inequality between rich and poor and fuel and food crises of large proportion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release today.    

In his address, the Minister for Foreign Affairs cautioned about resurfacing geopolitical tensions and a new wave of competition among the great powers and emphasized that NAM should re-claim its rightful place and speak loudly and act decisively for the very poor, weak and vulnerable countries.    

He also highlighted the issues of climate change and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to mankind. He further underscored the need to galvanize South-South cooperation to liberate and uplift countries and peoples from the clutches of poverty, inequality and deprivation.    

The High-level Commemorative Meeting commenced today and is scheduled to conclude tomorrow. Representatives from over 100 countries of the NAM Member States were present at the meeting.    

Earlier, on the sideline of the meeting, Foreign Minister Khadka had a meeting with Mr Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey. Both sides had a fruitful discussion on areas of mutual interest such as trade and tourism, economic cooperation, education and culture, among others.    

Minister Khadka and members of the delegation are scheduled to leave tomorrow evening and will arrive in Kathmandu on Wednesday morning.