Sri Lanka and the Non-Aligned Movement

Sri Lanka is one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement. Principles of Non-Alignment and participation in movement's activities is of high priority in foreign policy of the country.

Its capital of Colombo hosted the 5th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement on 16–19 August 1976. The country proposed its bid to host the summit at the 1973 Non-Aligned Standing Committee Conference in Kabul. Following the 1976 Summit Sri Lanka held the chairmanship of the movement for three years until 1979. This role represented the pinnacle of Sri Lankan foreign policy in the period of Cold War.