In a move that could ruffle some feathers in the Indian delegation attending the ongoing Nuclear Security Summit here, U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden on Monday hosted a lunch for leaders and officials of 11 nations that “included heads of government and other representatives from nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America that are members of the Non-Aligned Movement,” according to a White House statement.
As one of the founding members of NAM, the exclusion of India from the lunch was the subject of discussion at a press briefing on Monday. To a question on what India made of not being invited to Mr. Biden's home, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Vishnu Prakash said he had no information about the lunch. On Tuesday, when asked the same question, he said the facts were still being ascertained.
While the White House said that the official purpose of the lunch was to “exchange views on nuclear security and proliferation issues and the urgency of addressing global risks of nuclear terrorism,” it also emphasised that the main theme of the event was non-proliferation, rather than non-alignment. In a statement, the White House said that the focus of the discussion was the “shoring up international non-proliferation rules… centred in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
Mr. Biden further underscored the importance of the NPT in his remarks to the gathering. He said, “The goals of the non-aligned movement and my country on the important issues of nuclear security, non-proliferation, as well as other issues have never been closer than they are today, in our view.”
If indeed the lunch was prompted by American efforts to engage NAM members in the run-up to this summer's review conference of NPT adherents, then the absence of India — a non-signatory to the treaty — is hardly surprising.
Delegates invited to the lunch were from Algeria, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Other NAM states left out were Brazil and Argentina, as well as Pakistan.
