NAM summit in Sharm el-Sheikh condemns Israel's policies, stresses Palestinian statehood

Summit seeks world free from weapons of mass destruction, urges peaceful settlement of disputes

President Mubarak defends post-Cold War NAM

Palestinian president says resumption of negotiations comes after full stoppage of settlements building

Saudi Arabia sustains PNA budget with $15.400 million

Heads of state and government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit wrapped up their two-day meetings in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The Sharm el-Sheikh Declaration asserted the NAM nations' continued endeavors to reach just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East region based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the Madrid frames of reference and the land-for-peace principles.

The document also called for adopting a firm stand against all Israeli illegal expansionist activities in Palestine, which only aim to alter the legal status and the demographic composition of the city of Jerusalem.

The NAM leaders also urged Israel to conform to relevant UNSC resolutions and withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to the June 4, 1967 lines and also withdraw from the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in Shebaa Farms, Kfar Shuba Heights and the northern part of the Ghajar village.

The 15th NAM summit of heads of state or government wrapped up in Sharm el-Sheikh Thursday, with the approval of final documents and a summit declaration urging closer solidarity among member states to address global threats and challenges and promote world peace and development.

At the two-day summit, heads of state or government from over 100 NAM countries all over the world focused their debate on the summit theme of International Solidarity for Peace and Development as well as on current hotspot international and regional issues, such as global financial crisis, climate change, Middle East peace, food security, energy and nuclear problems.

The Sharm El Sheikh Declaration, signed by the NAM leaders Thursday in the Egyptian Red Sea city, is supposed to be an outlined edition of the summit's final document, expounding the strategy and action plan of the movement in the future three years.

According to the declaration, the heads of state and government of the NAM countries reiterate their strong commitment to the purposes and the principles of the United Nations Charter and international laws.

The leaders are determined to revitalize and reinvigorate NAM's role and influence as the principal political platform representing developing countries in multilateral fora, in particular the United Nations, says the declaration.

They vow to enhance the strengthening and revitalization progress of the movement through concrete measures at all levels and in different multilateral fora, and to maximize the ability of NAM to deal with the current rapidly evolving global situations, crises and challenges.

The declaration also states NAM's positions and goals on disarmament, international security, peacekeeping and peace-building, human rights and democracy, self determination, issue of Palestinians, UN reform, the world financial and economic crises, food security, development issue, pandemics, civil society, climate change, energy problem, human trafficking, international terrorism and dialogue among civilizations and religions.

Formally founded in September 1961, NAM now groups 118 member states, 17 observer countries and 10 observer organizations. The Movement, which includes nearly two-thirds of UN member states and comprises 55 percent of the world population, focuses on striving for the interests of developing countries all over the world.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called for disarmament among developing countries to contribute to world peace and development.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the 15th summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Ban said the NAM is committed to peace and placed high value of the world free of weapons of mass destruction.

"All countries should recognize that the disarmament contributes to development and therefore is critical to peace," he said.

"Now more than ever, the engagement of developing countries is very vital to achieving global solutions to our common problems," he added, noting that with the support of many NAM countries, the nuclear non-proliferation is gaining momentum.

Challenges of nuclear threat remain immense, and so does small arms, he said, calling for continued disarmament efforts.

Ban's remarks on disarmament reflected his concern over the military ambitions in developing world which have destabilized regional peace.

Coinciding with Ban's appeal, nuclear-armed South Asian foes India and Pakistan are expected to meet alongside the summit on Thursday aiming at re-launching stalled peace talks.

Bilateral ties of India and Pakistan deteriorated after bombings in the Indian commercial hub Mumbai in November last year which killed 166 people.

The 15th NAM summit opened Wednesday seeking more solidarity among developing countries to tackle major international or regional issues, including the ongoing world financial crisis.

The movement, which represents nearly two-thirds of UN member countries and comprises 55 percent of the world population, focuses on striving for interests of developing countries all over the world.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had called Wednesday on Nam members to exert joint efforts to boost the movement's role.

Mubarak, who was just elected as the 15th NAM Summit's chairperson, said nearly five decades after NAM's establishment, great changes have taken place to the world situation, imposing severe challenges to the movement.

NAM members should make joint efforts to push forward the movement so that it can play a bigger role in realizing the world peace, security and stability, said Mubarak.

Peace and development have all along been the objects that NAM devotes itself to, the Egyptian leader said.

In order to realize the objects, NAM members should strengthen solidarity and constructive cooperation, and jointly cope with the challenges, threats and dangers harming world peace and security, he added.

Mubarak said NAM members should unite to tackle international and regional issues including the Palestinian issue, the Middle East peace, the global financial crisis, food, security and climate change, among others.

The 15th NAM Summit is being held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh from Wednesday to Thursday.

Founded in September 1961, NAM now groups 118 member states, 16observer countries and 9 observer organizations.

The movement, which represents nearly two-thirds of UN member countries and comprises 55 percent of the world population, focuses on striving for interests of developing countries all over the world.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated that he would not resume peace negotiations with Israel unless it halts construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank on Sunday.

Abbas’ comments that came at a joint press conference with Romanian counterpart Traian Basescu in the presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, were a response to remarks earlier in the day by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who urged Abbas to begin talks.

Netanyahu repeated an offer for “economic peace,” a measure short of a full peace treaty that would entail the creation of a Palestinian state.

“We are walking towards a solution with Israel and a solution for the internal dispute among the Palestinians,” said Abbas.

The solution, Abbas said “would lead to establishing a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem, as its capital that lives in security and peace alongside Israel.”

Abbas also said that Romania, because of its ties to Arab states, Palestine, and Israel, has an important role to play in the peace process.

He said of his meeting with the Romanian leader, “We talked about the political process and the Palestinian internal conciliation and the efforts Egypt is making to restore Palestinian unity.

“We want unity to be restored very soon” he said, “unity is necessary and we will go on with our efforts with Egypt to reach a quick solution to this issue.”

In Cairo, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Arab League Ambassador Ahmad Qattan said that the Saudi Development Fund has taken the necessary measures to transfer the installments of the two months of April and May 2009 totaling USD15.4 million to the account of the Palestinian Ministry of Finance for the name of "The Palestine Liberation Organization. The Economic Department".

In a statement, the ambassador reiterated the continued role of the kingdom in supporting the budget of the Palestinian National Authority according to Arab summits' resolutions.