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The curious case of Dr. Manmohan Singh being on the dais at the inauguration of the summit got solved on Thursday, when Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai explained that the honour was bestowed on the Prime Minister due to the fact that India was one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement. The other founding member, Egypt, was represented by outgoing chairman and President Mohammad Morsi, as he had to hand over the baton to new chairman, Iran President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. The third founding member Yugoslavia does not exist. Ghana and Indonesia were not represented by heads of government at the summit. While these are technicalities, the whispers among reporters were that Ahmedinejad needed Dr. Singh on the dais for adding gravitas to the ceremony. Representation by the world's largest democracy on the dais at the NAM summit hosted by Iran would somehow add more credibility to the event, must have been the thought behind the decision that led to Dr. Singh being invited on the dais.

Case of PM on dais at Tehran NAM Summit solved