On November 14, 2021, ECFA hosted Ambassador Ehab Badawy, Assistant Foreign Minister for Multilateral Relations and International Security, to speak about Egypt’s participation in the High-Level Commemorative Meeting to mark the 60th anniversary of the First Conference of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade in 1961, which was hosted by the Republic of Serbia last October. The meeting was opened by Ambassador Dr. Mounir Zahran, ECFA Chairman, and attended by ambassadors: Dr. Ezzat Saad, ECFA Director, Youssef El-Sharqawy, Mohamed Abdel-Moneim Al-Shazly, Adel Al-Salousi, and Ali El-Hefny, and a number of ECFA members.

Ambassador Badawy noted that the event was mainly ceremonial, and although the movement has international weight, as it includes 120 countries, describing it as the second largest international grouping following the United Nations, but the actual pace of NAM’s activity has weakened to a large extent, and is almost non-existent. In return for achieving the basic goals for which the movement was established, such as combating colonialism and supporting independence and freedoms, unilateral agendas and narrow interests now dominate NAM. This was clearly evident in the speeches of the participants in the celebration hosted by Serbia last October, in terms of each country’s focus on its own crises, problems or goals that it aspires to achieve. Hence, the conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the Non-Aligned Movement has no future with the current inputs. The NAM countries must identify several goals and challenges around which all members can rally and work towards achieving them.

Ambassador Dr. Ezzat Saad commented by saying that in light of the polarization and intense strategic rivalry between the United States on one hand and China and Russia on the other hand, the NAM countries can crystallize a good framework for joint cooperation on many international issues and challenges, such as public health, climate change and development issues in general.