VP Venkaiah Naidu discusses issues of mutual interest with Venezuelan President

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday held discussions on a wide range of issues of mutual interest with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit here. Naidu congratulated Venezuela on its successful tenure as NAM Chair, the Vice President Secretariat tweeted.

The NAM is led by a Chair that rotates every three years during summit conferences. Since the 17th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the NAM held in 2016 at Venezuela's Margarita Island, the Movement has been chaired by Maduro. He is assisted and advised by the former and upcoming Chair of the Movement -- Iran and Azerbaijan, respectively. This Troika represents the past, present and future of the Movement.

The vice president met with Venezuelan President Maduro on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in Baku, the tweet said.

The two "held discussions on a wide range of issues of mutual interest and deliberated on need to boost South-South cooperation by forging constructive development partnerships with countries across the globe", it added.

Naidu is leading the Indian delegation to the NAM summit.

The theme for the summit is "Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world".

The NAM, which was formed in 1961 at the height of the Cold War as an independent forum of countries that were not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc, now has 120 member countries.

India is a founding member of NAM, which is one of the largest gatherings of world leaders.

Today, approximately 55 percent of the world's population lives in the NAM member-states. These countries possess over 75 percent of the world's oil reserves and more than 50 percent of gas reserves, as well as the biggest human and natural resources.