President Yoweri Museveni has assumed the chairmanship of the 121 member Non-Aligned Movement summit and rallied 121 member states to clearly define priorities that favour developing countries and drive on the strength of numbers to influence positions at platforms like the United Nations.
Museveni took over from H.E Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan at a colourful ceremony held at the Munyonyo Convention Center amid tight security . Uganda’s four-year chairmanship will expire in 2027.
Museveni urged countries especially in the global north to respect the “freedoms of everybody”.
“We are flabbergasted and look down with contempt at the philosophical, ideological and strategic shallowness of some of the actors of the world. If you say that you are a democrat, why don’t you respect the freedoms of everybody?” Museveni said.
He added ; “We are, therefore, not impressed and cannot be part of the morbid bigotry of uni-ideological thinking of this or that type. The universe has been here for the last 30billion years and the human society has been here for the last 4½million years.
You, therefore, should not have the audacity to impose on the society you live in, let alone the World, your narrow uni-ideological orientation.
Museveni said the strength of NAM should be used to exercise considerable influence particularly at the UN for the effective transformative process for a better common future.
“In the negotiations for the Pact of the Future, the outcome document of the upcoming United Nations Summit of the Future to be held in New York in September, 2024, we should clearly define priorities that favour developing countries by maintaining unity, solidarity and collective coordination among our Member States, in line with the Bandung principles.
I assure you all that my team, led by the Permanent Representative in New York has my full support to chair the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement,” added.
President Aliyev, the outgoing chairperson, outlined the key achievements of the summit during his four-year term.
