Binay off to Tehran

Vice President Jejomar Binay. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Vice President Jejomar Binay leaves on Tuesday for Tehran to represent President Aquino at the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser are expected to be at the summit to be attended by representatives of all 120 NAM member-states as well as 29 associated observer countries and organizations.

Binay’s office, in a statement, said he was expected to attend the official lunch on Thursday to be hosted by Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad for summit delegates.

The six-day summit—on the theme “Lasting Peace through Joint Global Governance”—formally opened on Sunday. The gathering of heads of state or government and heads of delegation will also be held on Thursday.

According to its website, NAM is focused on striving for the interests of developing countries all over the world, and represents nearly two-thirds of UN member countries and comprises 55 percent of the world population.—Jerome Aning