Presidential Board during the Bandung Conference (1955)
The African- Asian Conference held in Bandung – Indonesia, is considered the most immediate antecedent to the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement. Prime Ministers from Indonesia, India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Pakistan and Burma (Myanmar) convened this founding conference.
These five Asian countries invited other countries to participate in this conference, which was held on April 18 – 24, 1955, and was attended by 29 Heads of State from nations recently liberated from colonial yoke, with the purpose to identify and assess the world issues of that time and to establish a path towards the peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between all nations.
Indonesia’s President, Ahmed Sukarno, was the host of the conference in
Bandung Conference (1955)
which the principles that would rule the relations between big and small countries, known as the Ten Principles of Bandung, was set forth. Later, these principles were adopted as the main goals and objectives of the non-alignment policy and the essential criteria to the membership of this Movement.
The Bandung Conference was organized in three working commissions: politics, economics and culture. The Final Communiqué, elaborated by the participants, incorporated the conclusions of the conference on economic cooperation, cultural cooperation, rights of men, self-determination, issues of the dependent peoples, promotion of peace, and the world cooperation with the principles of peaceful coexistence as well as the condemnation of racial discrimination and radioactivity.
The 29 countries that participated in the Bandung Conference are:
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Countries participating in the Bandung Conference in 1955
