Bali, Indonesia hosted from May 23-27 the XVI Ministerial Conference and Commemorative meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on the 50th anniversary of its foundation.

Foreign ministers and other high officials of 128 member-states, observers and guests attended the conference, as well as a few dozens of international and regional organisations representatives. Ambassador to the UN in New York, the city hosting the NAM Coordination Bureau, Milorad Šćepanović attended the conference on behalf of Montenegro, an observer to the Non-Aligned Movement.

The conference was addressed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who underlined the historic importance of NAM in the development of multilateralism and expressed belief in its future constructive role. Along those lines, Joseph Diess, General Assembly President, addressed the conference underlining the great possibility for NAM's contribution through the UN in strengthening its central role of global governance.

Taking part in the General Debate, Ambassador Šćepanović underlined that Montenegro shares, as a successor to the former Yugoslavia, the historical heritage of NAM's fundamental values. He stressed that one of the core commitments on Montenegro's foreign policy agenda is its dedication to multilateralism and bilateral relations, adding that it is Montenegro's interest as a NAM observer to cooperate with its members based on the UN Charter key principles. In this respect, the Ambassador voiced Montenegro's full commitment to further enhance regional and international cooperation as the essential part of Montenegro's strategic goals of EU and NATO integration. He said he expects NAM to give an important contribution to the UN and other international forums in discerning adequate solutions for existing and new global challenges.

Ambassador Šćepanović had a number of bilateral meetings with ministers and other high officials from the region, as well as from participant-states from Asia, Africa and Latin America. He discussed the enhancement of multilateral cooperation and making incentives for further enhancement of bilateral cooperation. The Ambassador put a special emphasis on the intensified procedure for establishing diplomatic relations between Montenegro and NAM countries with which relations have not been established.