The 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has begun with a ministerial level meeting in Kampala, Uganda with the theme of “Deepening cooperation for shared global affluence”.

Bangladesh delegation in the NAM Summit scheduled to take place on January 19-20 will be led by Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud.

He is scheduled to leave for Uganda at 1am on Thursday, said a senior official.

In the Ministerial meeting of the NAM, Bangladesh delegation is attended by Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Ambassador Muhammad Abdul Muhith, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, and Ambassador Tareque Muhammad, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Kenya.

The ministerial meeting was inaugurated by Jessica Alupo, Vice President of the Republic of Uganda.

The ministerial meeting will continue on January 18, followed by the Summit level meeting on January 19 and 20.

Before the ministerial meeting, the Senior Officials Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement was held on January 15-16 to finalise the outcome document and declaration of the Summit.

In the meeting, the issue of Israeli attack in Gaza dominated the discussion.

It is expected that along with other political, economic and social issues, the Palestine issue will remain in focus during the ministerial meeting, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

The Ministers of the member States of the Non-Aligned Movement will adopt the outcome document of the Summit as well as the Kampala Declaration and Political declaration on Palestine at the Ministerial level and will put forward the documents for the consideration of the Head of State and Head of Governments at the Summit.

Presidents, Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of more than 80 countries are attending the 19th Summit of the NAM – the largest multilateral platform after the United Nations.

In the Summit, Azerbaijan will hand over the Chairmanship of NAM to Uganda for the next three years.