Egypt hands over NAM presidency to Iran

Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.30/ Trend , D.Khatinoglu/ Egyptian President Momahed Morsi handed over the Non-Aligned Movement presidency to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a ceremony at the 16th summit of the heads level of NAM on Thursday, shown live on Iranian state IRIB TV. Iran will serve as NAM head for three years. This is the first visit of Egyptian president to Iran since 1979. After Iran's Islamic revolution. Iran and Egypt cut diplomatic relations in 1979 because of Egypt's peace accord with Israel. The 16th summit of the NAM member states has been taking place in the Iranian capital Tehran, since Sunday. During the first three days the summit was held at foreign minister-expert level. The heads level summit started on Thursday. According to Iran's official statements, representatives from 120 countries including 50 high level officials including presidents, prime ministers and vice-presidents will participate at the NAM summit. The heads level meeting will be held on Thursday. NAM is an international organisation that brings together 118 countries in the world on the principles of non-participation of military blocs. NAM was officially established by 25 states at the Belgrade Conference in September 1961. The movement's establishment was preceded by the Bandung Conference in 1955. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az