TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani is set to visit neighboring Azerbaijan on Thursday to attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) due to be held later this week, according to a senior presidential official.

In remarks on Wednesday, Alireza Mo’ezzi, the presidential office’s director for communications and information, said the president will travel to Baku on Thursday at the official invitation of his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev.

Mo’ezzi said President Rouhani is scheduled to address the 18th NAM Summit, due to be held on October 25-26 in the Azeri capital, and illustrate the Islamic Republic’s positions on important regional and international issues.

NAM is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. NAM is the largest grouping of states worldwide after the United Nations.

The 17th summit of NAM was hosted by Venezuela in September 2016.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is currently in Baku to participate in the NAM ministerial meeting.

Rouhani will also hold a bilateral meeting with Aliyev in order to discuss major issues surrounding Tehran-Baku relations and the process of implementation of joint agreement, Mo’ezzi added. 

MH/PA