President Abdullah Gül will attend the summit, scheduled for July 15-16 and including representatives of 118 member countries and 17 observer members, to represent Turkey, which has “guest” status at the summit. The fact that many members of NAM lent support to Turkey's temporary membership in the UN Security Council during the elections held at the UN General Assembly last October strongly motivated Gül's decision to attend the summit.
Gül will have a number of bilateral meetings with leaders from Africa and South America on the sidelines of the summit, which will also be attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Meetings between Gül and the leaders of Indonesia, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Tanzania have already been scheduled. The global economic crisis, the dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan, tension between India and Pakistan and the Israeli-Palestinian issue are highlights of the summit's agenda.
NAM was established in 1955 through leading efforts by Egypt, India and then-Yugoslavia as an apparent reaction to the bipolar international system that developed in the aftermath of World War II. The only European member of the movement is Belarus, while 53 members are from Africa, 38 hail from Asia and 26 are from Latin America and the Caribbean.
