Suleiman Arrives in Iran, Hopes NAM Summit Will 'Enable People to Achieve Democracy'

President Michel Suleiman arrived Wednesday evening in Tehran to take part in the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement which will kick off on Thursday.

The Lebanese delegation comprises Deputy Prime Minister Samir Moqbel, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and the president’s advisor Naji Abi Assi.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran, Suleiman hoped the summit will “enable people to achieve their democracy … without foreign interference in their affairs.”

“We expect this summit to achieve its objectives: supporting peace and democracy, rejecting violence and aiding the underprivileged states and peoples,” Suleiman said.

The NAM, a Cold War grouping founded in 1961, has 120 members representing most of the developing world and which see themselves as independent of Washington and Moscow influence.

Iran said it will submit a proposal for ending the conflict in its close ally Syria to the summit. "This proposal is an acceptable and rational one, and includes all parties, and opposing it will be very difficult," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said.

Suleiman hoped the summit will “take non-biased decisions that enable the peoples of the region and the world to achieve their democracy without violence or foreign interference in their affairs, and therefore achieve prosperity, development and peace.”