MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina requests Non-Aligned Movement observer status

The NAM conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, will consider the request

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries will consider the admission of Argentina and the World Peace Council (WPC) as observers during the XVth. conference and triennial summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, according to a press release distributed by the summit secretariat Sunday.

The Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement agreed last June 26 to submit Argentina’s application with observer status. The bureau has also circulated the request by the World Peace Council to be offered the NAM observer status.

The bureau recommended that the upcoming summit slated for Wednesday and Thursday in the Red Sea resort city endorse the applications of Argentina and the World Peace Council.

The NAM groups 119 member states including 53 from Africa, 38 from Asia, 26 from Latinamerica and the Caribbean and one from Europe (Belarus). It represents nearly two-thirds of the United Nations members, particularly developing countries, and comprises 55% of the world population.

The movement now has 16 observer countries and nine observer organizations.

Argentina is currently classified as an Upper-Middle Income Country or as a secondary emerging market by the World Bank. Argentina is also one of the G-20 major economies.

The World Peace Council was formed in 1949, replacing the permanent committee of the World Peace Congress, in order to promote peaceful coexistence and nuclear disarmament. The WPC was especially active in those areas bordering US military installations, in Western Europe, believed to house nuclear weapons.

The WPC had its headquarters in Helsinki, Finland until the 1990s when the Council moved to Greece. In the past the WPC awarded the International Peace Prize.

In May 2004, the council held its world congress in Athens attended by representatives of 100 peace groups from around the world. The 2008 world congress of the council was held in the Venezuelan capital Caracas on April 8-13, with more than 120 peace groups from 76 countries in attendance.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) holds its triennial summit meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh this week, bringing together leaders from 119 developing nations for a meeting of one of the world's largest single political groups.

The movement, founded during the height of the Soviet-US confrontation in the mid 1950s, made its name as a counterweight to the bipolarity of the Cold War, building an alliance not on the pursuit of enforcing collective measures but on the promotion of shared principles.