1st Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement
Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (Serbo-Croatian: Конференција шефова држава или влада несврстаних земаља / Konferencija šefova država ili vlada nesvrstanih zemalja, Macedonian: Конференција на шефови на држави или влади на неврзани земји, Slovene: Konferenca voditeljev držav ali vlad neuvrščenih držav) on 1–6 September 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia was the first conference of the Non-Aligned Movement.[1] A major contributing factor to the organization of the conference was the process of decolonization of a number of African countries in the 1960s.[1] Some therefore called it the ″Third World's Yalta″ in reference to 1945 Yalta Conference.[1]
Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement
1–6 September 1961
Twenty-five countries in total participated in Belgrade Conference, while 3 countries, Bolivia, Brazil and Ecuador, were observers.[2] The preparatory meeting of Non-Aligned Countries took place earlier that year in Cairo June 5–12, 1961.[3] One of the issues was division of the newly independent countries over the Congo Crisis which led to a rift and creation of the conservative and anti-radical Brazzaville Group and radical nationalist Casablanca Group.[1] All members of the Casablanca Group attended the conference, including Algeria, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco and the United Arab Republic, while none of the Brazzaville Group was present.[1] The summit was followed by the 2nd Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Cairo in 1964. The 1962 Cairo Conference on the Problems of Developing Countries was a direct follow-up of the Belgrade Summit at which Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Senegal and Yugoslavia will work on preparation for the upcoming UNCTAD conference of the ECOSOC.[4]