After independence in 1966, Guyana sought an influential role in international affairs, particularly among Third World and non-aligned nations. It served twice on the UN Security Council. Former Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, and Attorney General Mohamed Shahabuddeen served a 9-year term on the International Court of Justice (1987–96). In June 2023, Guyana was elected as a non-permanent member to the UN Security Council. The country will serve on the Council for a period of two years, beginning in January 2024.
Georgetown is the capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is the retail, administrative, and financial services centre of the country, and the city accounts for a large portion of Guyana's GDP. The city recorded a population of 118,363 in the 2012 census.
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Premier of British Guiana from 1964 to 1966, Prime Minister of Guyana from 1964 to 1980 and then as the first Executive President of Guyana from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a strongman who embraced his own version of socialism.
The Umana Yana is a conical palm thatched hut (benab) erected for the Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference in Georgetown, Guyana in August 1972 as a V.I.P. lounge and recreation centre.
Company Path Garden is a small garden on the west side of the Avenue of the Republic in Georgetown, Guyana, between Church and North Streets. During colonial times, “company path” was the name given to a road used by the propertied class as an access road from the river to their lands. The company path, in this case, extended from the side of the Demerara River along the path on which the Bank of Guyana was built and eastwards beyond the Avenue of the Republic.
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement. Its capital, Belgrade, was the host of the First Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in early September 1961. The city also hosted the Ninth Summit in September 1989.
The 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement was held October 25–26, 2019 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The summit was attended by the delegation from more than 120 countries.
The National Trust of Guyana is a 1972 Guyanese conservation organisation to protect and conserve monuments of historic and national importance. Their main function is to preserve objects of national interest as well as managing their access by the public.
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"
Seventh Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement on 7–12 March 1983 took place in New Delhi in India, one of the founders and leading members of the Non-Aligned Movement. The summit followed the 1979 summit in Havana, Cuba at which confrontation between moderate member states led by SFR Yugoslavia and India and radical states led by Cuba led the movement into crisis. The keynote address delivered by Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi. At the summit in New Delhi Bahamas, Barbados, Colombia and Vanuatu were admitted as new member states, Papua New Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda as observers and Dominican Republic as an guest state. Cambodia was absent from the meeting due to rival delegations controversy, Saint Lucia failed to send a delegation while Luxembourg's request for an guest status was rejected on formalistic deadline grounds. 1,500 journalists followed the event.
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold War confrontation. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
The 9th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement on 4–7 September 1989 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia was the conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement. Belgrade was the first city to host the Summit for the second time after it hosted the 1st Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. Yugoslavia was unanimously selected as the host of the Summit at the 1988 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus. While the Federal Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia led by Budimir Lončar was excited, the Presidency of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav collective head of state, was skeptical about the prospects of hosting the event but ultimately supported it by Josip Vrhovec in fear that rejection may show the level of the crisis in the country. The comparatively weak federal government organizers of the event ultimately hoped that the conference may convince leaders of the strong Yugoslav federal republics to resolve the early Yugoslav crisis in a constructive and peaceful way, yet it nevertheless escalated in 1991 Yugoslav Wars. The event is therefore sometimes described as the swan song of the prominent Yugoslav Cold War diplomacy. Summit took place at the Sava Centar in New Belgrade. Janez Drnovšek held the opening remarks in Slovenian language.
60th Anniversary Additional Commemorative Non-Aligned Meeting is the 11–12 October 2021 Non-Aligned Movement commemorative meeting taking place in Belgrade, Serbia. The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, and cohosted with Azerbaijan, in commemoration to the 1st Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. President Ilham Aliyev made opening speech in a video format. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Nikola Selaković underlined that his county's strategic and essential goal is membership in the European Union, but that Serbia will not give up on its traditional friends which are not only Russia or China but all member states of the Non-Aligned Movement. While reflecting on historical achievements Indian representative Meenakshi Lekhi invited honest introspection if movement is to keep its relevance and called unnamed member states to avoid insistence on divisive issues and bilateral score-settling which make NAM increasingly ineffective. Participants vocally decried the disparity in vaccine access between developed and developing countries.
Kingston is a former village in Demerara. In 1837, it became a ward of Georgetown. The ward is located along the Atlantic Ocean coast. Kingston is home to many landmarks and historic buildings.
4th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement took place on 5–9 September 1973 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. The event took place in the Palace of Nations outside of the capital city. The general agenda for the summit was initially defined at the 1973 ministerial meeting in Kabul where Algerian delegation welcomed primary contribution of Guyana, India and SFR Yugoslavia. 76 countries in total participated in the summit calling upon the United States and the Soviet Union not to take important decisions on disarmament, world trade or the world monetary system without the effective participating on the Third World.
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 perceiving Soviet Union as the main threat to its independence.
1973 Non-Aligned Movement Standing Committee Conference took place on 13-15 May 1973 in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. The country participated in the work of the movement since the 1st Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade in 1961. Afghanistan perceived Non-Alignment as a guaranty of peace in independence in the context in which the country shared a long border both with Soviet Union and CENTO member states. The 1973 meeting was opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan Mohammad Musa Shafiq. While serving as a host country, Afghanistan decided to nevertheless play marginal role in the event concerned how its more prominent role may be perceived by major powers. Delegation of Sri Lanka proposed Colombo as the host of the 5th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement which was strongly supported by SFR Yugoslavia. Panama joined the NAM as an observer, while Bangladesh, despite reservations by Pakistan, joined as a full member state. Yugoslavia supported unofficial interest by Australia and North Korea to attend the next meeting with observer status. India, Guyana and SFR Yugoslavia played particularly active role in preparation of the working materials for the following summit in Algeria. Chile proposed inclusion of discussion on measures against global corporate threats and measures to protect sovereign control over natural resources. In July of the same year the host country was faced with 1973 Afghan coup d'état after which the new authorities stated their intention to maintain country's non-aligned position.
10th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement on 1–6 September 1992 in Jakarta, Indonesia was the conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement. Around 100 delegations, including some 60 heads of State or government, participated in the Summit in Jakarta.
The 1985 Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference was held in Luanda, capital of Angola from 4 to 7 September with the senior officials meeting being held on 2 and 3 September. The organization of the conference in the circumstances of the ongoing Angolan Civil War was described as a large scale organizational undertaking and a considerable achievement.
