Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been declared chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) at the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the NAM.
Museveni officially takes over the rotating three-year chairpersonship of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on behalf of Uganda from Azerbaijan.
H.E Mr. Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Azerbaijan, officially handed over the Chairmanship of NAM to Museveni during the opening ceremony on the summit ongoing at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Azerbaijan assumed membership of the summit at a critical time for all member states which necessitated concerted efforts and effective responses to the challenges of the contemporary world, according to Bayramov.
In his maiden speech as chairman, Museveni said the world should concentrate on the common Human problems and prosperity through trade.
“That is why I’m very happy to see you here,” he stated.
He said the second generation of African freedom fighters were people like Jomo Kenyatta, Mwalimu Nyerere, and Nelson Mandela, among others, who emerged in the 1940s.
“Africa’s surrender had in part on account of our egocentric chiefs and kings, whose selfishness could not unite us to fight these evil people. The emergence of the Non-Aligned Movement was a necessary antidote or the irrational polarization of the world of that time between the capitalist Western countries and the communist, mainly Eastern countries. This grouping of countries accounts for 4.46 billion people in the world.”
He went on: “Our study of the political economy of creation and society enabled us to discover that the basic primer of change is the development of science and technology.”
He said, therefore, that societies that move forward with their science and technology lay a basis for positive social change and should be encouraged by the progressive forces of the world.