Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu arrived in Venezuela's Margarita Island yesterday for the 17th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the second largest post-Cold War international body after the U.N., along with 53 members from Africa, 39 from Asia, 26 from Latin America and the Caribbean, 17 observer countries and 10 observer organizations from Sept. 17-18.
According to the ministry, the foreign minister will hold bilateral talks with his counterparts during the summit, representing Turkey as a guest invitee-state. Turkey has followed NAM developments since 2006 as part of its multi-dimensional foreign policy. Roughly 14,000 security personnel will be stationed on Margarita Island, assigned by the Venezuelan government to protect the delegates of nearly 120 nations ahead of Saturday's summit.
Despite entering its third year of recession and triple-digit inflation, the Venezuelan government has flown in special shipments of food to avoid any hiccups due to local shortages. In addition, according to Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency, NAM head Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will depart for Venezuela on Friday to attend the Summit where he is expected to hand over NAM presidency to Venezuela.