A delegation from Uganda led by the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vincent Bagiire Waiswa, is currently in South Africa for a two-day visit ahead of Uganda’s hosting of the 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit scheduled to take place at Speke Resort Munyonyo, Kampala, from January 15th to 20th 2024.
Uganda will assume the chairmanship from 2023 to 2026 under the theme “Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence.”
According to Waiswa, among other delegates currently in South Africa for the meeting with Dr. Zane Dangor, the Director General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), is Adonia Ayebare, Uganda’s Permanent Secretary to the United Nations.
Waiswa said that the meeting was aimed at sharing knowledge on several issues, among them South Africa’s views concerning the future of NAM, Uganda’s priorities, vision, and theme for the NAM summit, as well as the task of chairing the NAM summit in the current geopolitical environment.
The Permanent Secretary revealed that after the meeting, Zaheer Laher, the Deputy Director General for Global Governance and Continental Agenda, took the delegation through the organization’s structure and methodology for hosting the NAM summit.
He added that Laher also took them through the role of NAM chair, South Africa’s experience hosting the Summit in 1998, the NAM Coordinating Bureau, the Non-Aligned Security Council Caucus, Joint Coordinating Committees, and NAM meetings, among others.
Waiswa confirmed that Laher explained the need to build partnerships and continuously engage in the challenge of concurrently chairing the NAM and G77 summits and also strategize on how to attain optimal outcomes at the end of the summit as well as striking the balance between NAM member States and Non-member States’ interests.
The DIRCO has therefore pledged for continued support towards Uganda’s hosting and assuming the chairmanship of NAM and G77 summits.
NAM has a membership of 120 States and Uganda was endorsed to assume the chairmanship from 2023 to 2026, where President Museveni will take over the chairmanship from President llham Alivey of Azerbaijan.
