TEHRAN: Dialogue and diplomacy should be the only instruments to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said at a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement on Tuesday.

Foreign ministers from NAM states began two days of discussions to prepare the ground for the organisation’s summit on Thursday and Friday.

Ms Khar’s statement conformed to the mood at the meeting that saw fiery speeches condemning “unilateral” actions — particularly sanctions against Iran and other nations — and calling for a greater say for developing countries in decision-making at the United Nations.

Other issues included a call for the creation of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, and an appeal for nuclear disarmament, particularly in the Middle East.

In her speech during an interactive debate on “Lasting peace through joint global governance”, Ms Khar stressed the need to follow founding principles of NAM based on peaceful coexistence, respect for human rights and territorial integrity of all states to ensure an enduring peace and progress in the world.

The foreign minister said a major challenge confronting the world was how to achieve international peace and security on the basis of equality.

“We all know peace and development are mutually reinforcing and without peace we cannot even think of development and prosperity,” she said.

Ms Khar called for a just solution of the Palestine issue on the basis of Palestinians’ right to self-determination and stressed an immediate end to the ongoing bloodshed in Syria. The foreign minister said Afghanistan would need support of NAM fraternity as it moved towards the transition phase in 2014.

Hina Khar said Pakistan had always stood for human rights and democratic ideals.

“We believe every country and nation is entitled to nurture and promote these values in accordance with their own historical experience, cultural and religious values.”

She termed disarmament and non-proliferation an important area for global peace and security. “Equal and undiminished security for all states must be the norm to ensure global peace and security,” the foreign minister added. Ms Khar said economic and social development of nations was the most important area to build and sustain peaceful, prosperous and harmonious societies. She said the world needed to generate 600 million jobs to accommodate the young people who would enter the job market over the next 10 years. “We need to cooperate and work with our partners from developed countries to meet the needs and aspirations of our youthful populations.”

She pointed to several global issues that required a unified effort by NAM — rising costs and scarcity of energy, the continued external exploitation of natural resources, especially in Africa; the growing shortage of water; and the problem of migration, including free flow of labour from the developing to the developed countries.

She said restrictions on the flow of technology, especially advanced technology, to developing countries and environmental degradation due to over-consumption by the rich at the cost of the poor in developing countries were additional problems.

Ms Khar said the non-aligned movement could play a role in the enlargement and implementation of the trade and development agenda through measures like reduction of agricultural subsidies in rich countries; elimination of high and escalating tariffs against developing countries; commodity price stabilisation; special and differential treatment, and capacity-building.

Ms Khar said that NAM countries could also help each other directly through regional economic integration and specific schemes for South-South cooperation.

The foreign minister said a tendency had been noticed that when various challenges began to assume crisis proportions, the major powers sought to go `small’ and `selective’ by opting for decision making in self-selected mechanisms. “This is a mistake that must be avoided.”

The United Nations might not be most efficient, but it was still the best available. Small may be easy to manage but the shelf life of decisions taken through these mechanisms did not enjoy the desired legitimacy, she added.

She praised Egypt’s stewardship of NAM over the past three years.–APP

AFP adds: Tehran is portraying this week’s summit as a blow to US-led efforts to isolate it internationally.

It is expected to brandish any summit agreements slamming sanctions or affirming a right to nuclear energy as validation of its position in its worsening standoff with Washington over its atomic activities.

The NAM is a 120-member organisation founded in 1961, at the height of the Cold War, by nations considering themselves independent of the US-led Western bloc or the then-Soviet Union. It represents nearly two-thirds of the UN’s 193 member states, accounting for much of the developing world.

It has also generally taken on an anti-US bent, as evidenced by the fact Russian and Chinese delegations -- but no US ones -- were invited to observe the Tehran summit, and the language used in documents that often criticise US policies on Iran, Cuba and the Palestinian issue.

Overall, the NAM seeks greater accountability from the UN Security Council and a greater weight for the UN General Assembly -- where it is strongly represented -- in making global decisions.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon will be attending the Tehran summit, in a customary observer role, despite criticism from the United States and Israel.