Egypt has stepped up its preparations to host the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh next 15-16 July. The summit is expected to be attended by over 100 heads of state. An Egyptian official diplomat has ruled out that the differences between Egypt and a number of member states would belittle the chances of summit's success.
Raouf Saad, Assistant Foreign Minister and Coordinator of the Summit Secretariat told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Egypt sent invitations to leaders of all member states without exception to participate in the summit. He stressed that the summit is an international conference that will be headed by Egypt away from any bilateral differences. Egypt respects its international commitments and any bilateral differences would not affect or overlap the work of the summit. The differences in views between the world countries is normal in the international relations, Saad said, pointing out that these issues are dealt with at the bilateral level between the various capitals.
The image will be clearer next May with regard to the participation in the summit, as Egypt is supposed to receive the lists of the participating countries' delegations next May.
