The Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will leave for Iran this evening to attend the Non-Aligned Movement, NAM Summit. This will be the third NAM Summit to be attended by Dr Singh as Prime Minister after Havana in 2006 and Sharm el Sheikh in 2009.

The Ministerial level meeting at the 16th NAM Summit began at IRIB Conference Centre in Teheran today. The rotating Chairmanship of the NAM was handed over to Iran by the outgoing Chair Egypt. Indian delegation is led by the External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna. In his inaugural address , the Iran Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called upon the member nations to work for multi lateralism and a just international order. He said NAM remains committed to its ideals of global peace and development.The opening session of the foreign ministers meet of the 120 member bloc of nations adopted the draft document to be considered by the Heads of States during the summit on August 30-31.The issues include those on Syria, Palestine, Human rights, UN reforms, food and energy security and sustainable development among others.

Ahead of the meeting, the External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna held talks with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi in Teheran on Monday. The two leaders discussed bilateral relations and the challenges being faced by the Non aligned movement. The meeting is also significant in the wake of India ,Iran and Afghanistan decision to work for expanding trade and co-operation through Iran’s Chabahar port