NAM Summit Likely in March or April Next Year: Bangladeshi Official

The 13th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit is expected to be held in Dhaka in March or April next year, Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Syed Muazzem Ali said here Monday evening.

Briefing newsmen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign secretary said the exact date of the summit will be set at a meeting of the NAM foreign ministers in South Africa in late January 2002.

The summit of the 114-member NAM was earlier scheduled to take place in September this year, but shifted due to general elections in the country.

Ali, who accompanied Foreign Minister Abdus Samad Azad and Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Hu Qianwen, who visited the Bangabandhu International Conference Center here, the venue of the NAM Summit, said the center will be completed by July, one month ahead of the schedule. The center is being constructed with financial and technical assistance of China.

He said work of all other facilities in connection with the summit are also progressing well and expected to be completed in time.

Replying to a question, Ali said Bangladesh hopes to receive between 55 to 60 heads of state or government during the summit.

It will be an unprecedented event for Bangladesh and will give a boost to all sectors of the country.






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