MORE than 100 foreign delegations, including about 40 foreign ministers, gathered in Serbia today to begin a two-day conference marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic explained that the gathering in Belgrade will not make any declarations or decisions, but is “a way for everyone to show that they remember the 1961 Belgrade conference with great care and pride.”

A total of 25 countries attended the movement’s founding conference in the Serbian capital, which was then part of Yugoslavia, in September 1961.

Established at the height of the cold war, the movement was established to act as a counterweight between the United States and Soviet Union, and has now expanded to include 120 countries.

Mr Selakovic said that while Serbia aims to become a member state of the European Union, it will not renounce its traditional friends.

“They are not only Russia and China, but also members of the Non-Aligned Movement,” he explained.

Russia is present at the bloc’s proceedings for the first time, having been granted observer status in July.