High-Level Meeting to Mark 60th Anniversary of Non-Aligned Movement Opens in Belgrade with Morocco’s Participation

A High-Level Commemorative Meeting to mark the 60th anniversary of the First Conference of Non-Aligned Countries opened Monday in Belgrade, with the participation of delegations representing more than 100 countries, including Morocco, one of the founding members of the Organization in 1961. The Moroccan delegation is led by the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Kingdom to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, and includes the Moroccan ambassador to Belgrade, Mohamed Amine Belhaj, and the Director of the United Nations and International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Redouane Houssaini. This conference, which is co-hosted by Serbia and Azerbaijan, is “an important opportunity for the Non-Aligned Movement to discuss its historic contribution, to reaffirm its commitment to the fundamental principles of the UN Charter and its support for a world order based on multilateralism, as well as to define new objectives for the future”, organizers said in a press release. The first Conference of Non-aligned Countries, held in Belgrade in September 1961 in the midst of the cold war, brought together the heads of state and government of 25 countries, including Morocco, in addition to three observer members and several liberation movements, parties and organizations. They met in Belgrade to found the Movement, whose fundamental principles still serve as guidelines for all States and nations committed to peaceful coexistence, equality, solidarity, non-interference in internal affairs of countries and respect for their territorial integrity and sovereignty.