Egypt and the Non-Aligned Movement

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Egypt was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). The preparatory meeting for the First NAM Conference in Belgrade was held in Cairo between 5 and 12 June 1961. [1] The first NAM conference was cosponsored between President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser and President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito who sent joint letter to other leaders during their bilateral meeting in Egypt. [2] Cairo hosted the Second Conference in October 1964 attended by forty-seven countries while Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh hosted the Fifteenth Conference in 2009. [1] At the time of the Sharm el-Sheikh Conference 118 countries participated in the activities of the movement with some other countries having the observer status. [3] 55 heads of state attended the 2009 conference. [4] Official Egyptian state institutions view the movement as the broadest and the most important framework for developing countries to coordinate their stances on issues on the agenda of the United Nations and to act together against unilateral policies. [5]

Contents

History

Nasser, Tito and Nehru on Brijuni Islands in 1956 Jawaharlal Nehru's tour of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1961 (02).jpg
Nasser, Tito and Nehru on Brijuni Islands in 1956

President Gamal Abdel Nasser, together with Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Sukarno of Indonesia played the leading role in the early days of the movement. [6] Following the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and president Nasser's charismatic authority in other Arab countries other countries in the Arab world followed Egyptian lead in joining the Non-Aligned Movement. [7]

After the Camp David Accords some Arab countries and Cuba strongly criticized Egypt with Iraqi representatives calling for suspension of Egypt's membership in the NAM. [8] This initiative was opposed by India and Yugoslavia as a matter of principle with Yugoslavia underlining its dissatisfaction with Egyptian failure to ensure earlier Arab common stance for the Camp David negotiations. [8]

See also

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Indonesia–Yugoslavia relations Bilateral relations

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Afghanistan–Yugoslavia relations Bilateral relations

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Pakistan–Yugoslavia relations Bilateral relations

Pakistan–Yugoslavia relations were historical foreign relations between Pakistan and now split-up Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The two countries developed congenial relations despite the close Yugoslav association and cooperation with India. Yugoslav proximity to India hovewer partially limited development of relations between the two countries. The formal diplomatic relations were established on 18 May 1948. The first trade agreement between Pakistan and Yugoslavia was signed in 1949 while Yugoslavia became the first socialist state to provide development credits to Pakistan. In early years after the World War II Yugoslavia tried to stay neutral in disputes between India ad Pakistan. This changed after the India, Yugoslavia and Egypt initiated the establishment of the Non-aligned Movement while Pakistan joined Western Bloc led Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. On 13 till 16 January 1961 President of Pakistan Ayub Khan paid the first State visit of Pakistan to Yugoslavia. This visit was part of his efforts to strengthen relations with Yugoslavia despite this country's close regations with New Delhi. Pakistan diplomacy was however shocked when in 1965 Yugoslavia issued joint communique with India stating that the Kashmir question was as an internal affair of India. After Pakistani protests Yugoslavia took a more balanced approach during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, it supported Tashkent Declaration and was not opposed to Pakistani membership in the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1968 the credits given by Yugoslavia to Pakistan amounted to 104.7 million US dollars. In 1968 President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito paid his first return State visit to Pakistan.

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Egypt–Yugoslavia relations Bilateral relations

Egypt–Yugoslavia relations were historical foreign relations between Egypt and now break-up Yugoslavia. Both countries were founding members and prominent participants of the Non-Aligned Movement. While initially marginal, relations between the two Mediterranean countries developed significantly in the aftermath of the Soviet-Yugoslav split of 1948 and the Egyptian revolution of 1952. Belgrade hosted the Non-Aligned movement's first conference for which preparatory meeting took place in Cairo, while Cairo hosted the second conference. While critical of certain aspects of the Camp David Accords Yugoslavia remained major advocate for Egyptian realist approach within the movement, and strongly opposed harsh criticism of Cairo or proposals which questioned country's place within the movement.

India–Yugoslavia relations Bilateral relations

India–Yugoslavia relations were historical foreign relations between India and now split-up Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia established full diplomatic relations with India on 5 December 1948 following the 1948 Tito–Stalin split. Initially two countries developed their relations at the UN Security Council in 1949 during their shared membership. In the period of the Cold War both countries were the founders and among core members of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Morocco–Yugoslavia relations Bilateral relations

Morocco–Yugoslavia relations were historical foreign relations between Morocco and now split-up Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Two countries established formal bilateral relations on 2 March 1957. Both countries were founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement. Moroccan king Hassan II supported Yugoslav bid to host the first conference of the movement in 1961 even over the candidacy of Cairo. The belief was that Yugoslav bid will “increase the possibility of wider Arab participation” irrespective of some internal divisions. Yugoslav diplomacy on its part gave high priority to country's relations with non-bloc Mediterranean countries.

1st Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement 1961 Belgrade summit conference

Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement on 1–6 September 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia was the first conference of the Non-Aligned Movement. A major contributing factor to the organization of the conference was the process of decolonization of a number of African countries in the 1960s. Some therefore called it the ″Third World's Yalta″ in reference to 1945 Yalta Conference.

3rd Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement 1970 Lusaka summit conference

Third Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement on 8–10 September 1970 in Lusaka, Zambia was the third conference of the Non-Aligned Movement. A preparatory meeting of Foreign Ministers drafted a number of resolutions which were considered by the Summit Conference. President of Zambia Kenneth Kaunda opened the conference by underlining non-alignment as "the natural choice at the time of increased hostility created by ideological conflicts in the bipolar world"

Non-Aligned Movement Group of states which are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.

Second Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement between 5 and 10 September 1964 in Cairo, United Arab Republic (Egypt) was the second conference of the Non-Aligned Movement which followed the Belgrade Conference of 1961 and preceded the Lusaka Conference of 1970. The city of Cairo was selected as a host of the summit conference at the preparatory meeting held in Colombo, Ceylon, on March 23, 1964. At the beginning of the conference the chairmanship of the Movement was transferred from the President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito to the President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser.

6th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement 1979 Havana summit conference

6th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement took place on 3–9 September 1979 in Havana, the capital city of Cuba. 93 countries took part in the summit. It was the first NAM summit which took place in one Iberoamerican country. The event was marked by political and ideological divisions among the non-aligned countries. The organizer wanted to use the event to propose "a natural alliance" between the movement and the Eastern Bloc causing strong resistance from some members, particularly SFR Yugoslavia. While both Cuba and Yugoslavia were at the time nominally socialist states, they took substantially different position in world politics with Cuba perceiving United States, and Yugoslavia Soviet Union as a threat to its independence.

The 1987 Mediterranean Non-Aligned Countries Ministerial Meeting held on Brijuni Islands, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia was the second ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned countries from the Mediterranean region. The meeting restricted the number of participating countries exclusively to the few Non-Aligned nations of the Mediterranean area and as such focused primarily on regional issues. At the time ot he meeting the group included Southern Mediterranean and Levantine Arab countries and only three European Non-Aligned countries of Malta, Cyprus and SFR Yugoslavia.

1969 Non-Aligned Movement Consultative Meeting took place in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia on 8–12 July following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Non-interventionism was put on the top of the agenda by the host nation while the discussion over the national liberation caused some divisions with Algeria requesting their full participation but only Palestine Liberation Organization being granted the right to participate on equal footing. Algeria in turn blocked Yugoslav proposal to admit countries formally aligned in military pacts but pursuing policy close to non-alignment such as the Socialist Republic of Romania and Czechoslovak Socialist Republic which tried to distance themselves from Soviet led Warsaw Pact and Malaysia, Singapore, Tunisia and Pakistan most of which were part of Western led Baghdad Pact or Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

References

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  2. "Pokret nesvrstanih, I. dio". Hrvatska radiotelevizija. 23 July 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  3. Tanjug (11 July 2009). "Почео 15. Самит несврстаних". Politika . Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  4. "Bağlantısızlar Hareketi Zirvesi Mısır'da başlıyor". Hürriyet. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  5. "Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)". State Information Service. 20 July 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  6. André Munro. "Non-Aligned Movement". Encyclopaedia Britannica . Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  7. Peretz, Don (1965). "Nonalignment in the Arab World". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (362): 36–43.
  8. 1 2 Tvrtko Jakovina (2011). Treća strana Hladnog rata. Fraktura. ISBN   978-953-266-203-0.