The preparatory meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of the 120 member bloc of nations got underway this morning in Teheran. The rotating Chairmanship of the Non Aligned Movement’s Official line up was handed over for a period of three years from Egypt to Iran.

The top officials from the member countries will over the next two days prepare the ground work for the NAM stand on major international issues and promoting multi lateral co-operation.

In his inaugural address at the preparatory meet, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said that it is committed to peaceful use of its nuclear program and doesn’t want confrontation. He said, Iran is ready for collaboration with the international community. Referring to the Arab Spring, he said the legitimate public concerns must be addressed.

At the same time he said that foreign intervention in the wave of unrest that sweeps the region is unacceptable. He lamented the selective use of human rights for political gains by certain countries.

The Iranian Foreign Minister urged the Non aligned member nations to take effective steps to weed out terrorism. He said that global peace and sustainable development as the two major challenges facing the member nations and they should strive to achieve it by multi lateral co-operation.

The meeting will be followed by the Foreign Ministers meeting on August 28-29 and then the summit on August 30-31.