PA Leader To Attend NAM Summit

Beirut, Aug 25, IRNA – Palestinian Self-Rule Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas will pay a visit to Iran for the first time after gaining the post to attend the 16th NAM Summit. The Foreign Minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) , Riyad Al-Maliki, said on Friday that Abu Mazen will in a speech in the meeting recall the request on the UN for Palestine’s membership in the universal body. Al-Maliki told Ma'an news agency that besides the 16th NAM Summit, due to be attended by Abbas, Palestine will be represented in the NAM meetings of experts and foreign ministers. Al-Maliki told a news conference in Ramallah that Palestine will obtain a status of non-member state in the UN General Assembly, after which a full membership application will be sent to the UN Security Council. He said President Mahmoud Abbas would address the UN General Assembly on September 27 and announce that Palestine wants to submit an application for the status of non-member state. Then, the PA will contact world states and groups to compose an appropriate application and make sure it has a majority of member states supporting the bid before it is submitted. A date for submitting the application has not been set yet, al-Maliki added. The number of member states of the UN General Assembly is 193, he said, and Palestine will seek to get a majority of 180 member states to vote in favor. That requires "huge efforts" and negotiations in addition to wording the application in a way that will be acceptable to conservative member states./end