From its very inception, the SFRY played a lead role in the Movement. Due to the breakdown of SFRY, the membership of the FRY in the NAM was suspended in 1992. Upon regulating the FRY membership in the UN, our request for attaining observer status in the Movement was accepted in a NAM Coordinating Bureau meeting in 2001, and approved by the New York Ministerial meeting in November 2001.

The Republic of Serbia, in line with its foreign-policy priorities, has no intention of changing its status within the Movement, but it seeks to ensure pragmatically its presence and cooperation within the NAM in the fulfilment of its vital state and national interests. Our presence and cooperation within the NAM do not contradict Serbia's European perspective, but are a dimension complementary to our overall foreign policy engagement. The fact that some very important IO (OIC, AU and the like) are collective members of the NAM is also important for our positioning towards the NAM. Observer status also enables the Republic of Serbia to keep abreast of global political and economic issues from the vantage point of this group of countries. The prospect of enlargement or of reviving bilateral economic cooperation with the NAM Member States is also very important.

In 2010, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted for the first time a scholarship programme titled "The World in Serbia" - 100 scholarships for students from the NAM member states1.

The Commemorative Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement was held in Belgrade from 5-6 September 2011 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding top-level meeting of the Movement in Belgrade.