Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu represented India at the 18th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Baku, Azerbaijan on October 25 and 26.
This marked the second time in a row that PM Modi missed the summit.
He had earlier missed the 2016 meet held at Venezuela.
Since 1961, the Indian Prime Minister has always attended the NAM summit.
Exception: In 1979, when Chaudhury Charan Singh was the caretaker PM and hence missed it.
Modi’s absence indicates a decisive move away from past practice at the 60-year-old organisation.
The theme for the XVIII NAM Summit is “Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of contemporary world”.
Bandung Principles
The Ten Principles of Bandung was a political statement encapsulating the need to promote world peace and cooperation between countries.
They were formulated at the Asian-African Conference in 1955.
About NAM
India is one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
NAM was established in 1961 with 29 members.
It has since grown to 120 members to become one of the largest groupings of nation-states.