Brankovic: Important for Serbia that Non-Aligned Movement reaffirmed commitment to basic principles of UN Charter and international law

Retired diplomat and former ambassador to the UN Branko Brankovic told Kosovo Online that it is extremely important that yesterday's gathering in Belgrade, dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the First Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement, reaffirmed commitment to the basic principles of the United Nations Charter and international law. This is particularly significant for Serbia, given that its territorial integrity is under threat.

Brankovic believes that the meeting itself and its organization in Belgrade are extremely important, not only from the perspective of Serbia's international position, but also in light of everything that is currently happening in the world.

"We are witnessing the fact that the old international order is practically over and that we are on the path toward developing the basic principles of a new international order. Throughout this entire process, it is extremely important that the voice of the Non-Aligned countries is also heard, especially since there are more than 120 of them in the United Nations, which has 193 member states," Brankovic notes.

Given that among the Non-Aligned countries there are states that do not recognize Kosovo, those that do recognize it, as well as those that have withdrawn their recognition, Brankovic says that everything said at yesterday's gathering will prompt reflection on this issue in the states that have recognized Kosovo.

"The Non-Aligned countries are fighting for the implementation of the United Nations Charter, which speaks of the inviolability of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of UN member states, and this will certainly prompt and stimulate fundamental reflection among the Non-Aligned countries that have recognized the so-called independence of Kosovo: what, why and how did we do it when we recognized Kosovo and Metohija, when we know that this runs counter to these basic principles that we are all fighting for," he says.

The meeting in Belgrade, he believes, was more than symbolic, and everything said by individual member states relates to the basic principles of the Non-Aligned Movement, which Non-Aligned countries have upheld for years and on the basis of which they have conducted themselves within the UN.

Our interlocutor also believes that the meeting in Belgrade was important in terms of timing, as a trilateral meeting of the three major powers – Putin, Trump and Xi Jinping – is expected in November.

"They certainly want to finally make it clear to the entire world that questions of force, any possible conflicts and a nuclear war are, beyond any doubt, rejected. The aim is to create a new world order based on multipolarity. And those three major powers, precisely because there are three of them, demonstrate and prove that they support multipolarity. I am convinced that the Non-Aligned countries will support that trilateral meeting, which should, in one way or another, strengthen the basic principles of international relations, namely avoiding war, moving as far as possible toward disarmament and, of course, not using nuclear or any other weapons under any circumstances, because there can be no winner in such a situation," the diplomat says.

When all of this is taken together, he adds, we are living through an extremely important moment for the future of the world, in which the Non-Aligned countries will once again have an exceptional role, as they did in the past, through their numbers and their advocacy of the basic principles of the UN Charter.