NAM not a conference of PMs, India is participating: Ansari

September 16, 2016 12:06

Downplaying Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipping the NAM Summit, Vice President Hamid Ansari has said there is no shift in India's foreign policy and asserted that it is participation that matters as it is "not a conference of prime ministers".

Ansari is leading the Indian delegation for the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Venezuela's Margarita island in the absence of Prime Minister Modi, who is only the second Indian premier to not go for the conference after Charan Singh in 1979.

Asked what kind of message was India sending with Prime Minister Modi skipping the 17th NAM Summit, Ansari said, "India is participating. NAM is not a conference of prime ministers.

"Prime ministers have been going but there have been occasions when prime ministers for a variety of reasons have not been able to go but India's participation remains," he said.

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