The Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference was held in Georgetown,

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

from 8 August to 12 August 1972. It was attended by delegations from 59

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...

member countries, 12 delegations of observers and 8 guests. The Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea was recognized as the sole legitimate representative of Cambodia (then under the control of the US-backed

Khmer Republic The Khmer Republic (, ; ) was a Cambodian state under the United States-backed military dictatorship of Marshal Lon Nol from 1970 to 1975. Its establishment was formally declared on 9 October 1970, following the 18 March 1970 coup d'état w ...

); and the

Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRG, ), was formed on 8 June 1969, by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) as an armed underground government opposing the government of the Republic of ...

was admitted as a full member (southern Vietnam at the time was ruled by the Western-backed

Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with it ...

). Delegates from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, and the

Kingdom of Laos The Kingdom of Laos was the form of government in Laos from 1947 to 1975. Located in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, it was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the sou ...

staged a protest walk-out to convey dissatisfaction with this decision.

PR China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

's renewed interest in the movement was tied with growing need for support against the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, and returning the favor for admission to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, with votes mostly coming from non-aligned nations. The conference adopted an Action Programme for Economic Co-operation called the "Georgetown Declaration". The meeting included a call for resolution in the Middle East and the withdrawal of Israel from Arab territories. Also, a proposal was endorsed for a meeting of non-aligned ministers prior to any

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

meetings in order to "coordinate their positions" as well as establish annual meetings of heads of state. The

Umana Yana The Umana Yana (pronounced ''oo-man-a yan-na'') is a conical palm thatched hut (benab (hut), benab) erected for the Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference in Georgetown, Guyana in August 1972 as a V.I.P. lounge and recreation centre. History Th ...

("meeting place of the people" in the local

Waiwai language Waiwai (Uaiuai, Uaieue, Ouayeone) is a Cariban language of northern Brazil, with a couple hundred speakers across the border in southern Guyana and Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South Ame ...

), a conical palm hut (benab), was erected for as a V.I.P. lounge and recreation centre.

Commemorative statue

During the conference, the Non-aligned Monument to the four founders of the Non-Aligned Movement - President

Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, President

Kwame Nkrumah Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

of India and President

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

- was erected in Company Path Garden and was unveiled by the then President,

Arthur Chung Arthur Raymond Chung (10 January 1918 – 23 June 2008) was a Guyanese politician who served as the first president of Guyana from 17 March 1970 to 6 October 1980.

. Each bust was sculpted in the home country of their likeness, and the quartz base from the Mazaruni area, and decorated with jasper from Orinduik Falls.

References

{{Non-Aligned Movement Summits Non-Aligned Movement Diplomatic conferences in Guyana 20th-century diplomatic conferences 1972 in Guyana 20th century in Georgetown, Guyana 1972 conferences 1972 in international relations

Foreign Ministers In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...