Islam Times - Salehi meets FMs, officials from NAM member states

Islam Times - Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has held separate meetings with a number of his counterparts and foreign ministry officials from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states.

The meetings took place on the sidelines of the two-day foreign ministerial meeting of the 16th NAM summit in Tehran on Tuesday.

In a meeting with Libyan Foreign Minister Ashour Bin Khayal, Salehi called for the release of a number of the members of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) who were abducted in Libya in July.

On July 31, gunmen kidnapped a seven-member delegation from the IRCS visiting the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. The Iranian delegation travelled to Libya at the invitation of the Libyan Red Crescent to discuss various prospects for cooperation in the field of humanitarian assistance.

The Iranian foreign minister also held a meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, where he talked about the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Salehi called for closer Iran-Indonesia ties to help prevent similar problems for Muslims in other parts of the world.

Salehi also held a meeting with Senegalese Foreign Minister Alioune Badara Cissé, during which the two sides exchanged views on issues of common concern.

In separate meetings with Jordanian Deputy Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash and Yemeni Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Muthana Hassan, Salehi called for the expansion of relations between the Islamic Republic and the two countries.

NAM is an international organization with 120 member states that is not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. Nearly two-thirds of the countries of the United Nations are also NAM members.

Over 100 countries have sent representatives to the NAM summit, which kicked off with an expert-level meeting in the Iranian capital on Sunday.

The meeting of heads of state and government opens on Thursday with an inaugural speech by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.