Venezuela is hosting the 17th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit at the island of Margarita from September 13 to 18, taking over from the previous host Iran.

With 120 member states, the NAM is the second largest international body after the United Nations. Since its creation in 1961, it consists of developing countries defending their individual liberation struggles. Venezuela, an OPEC member and home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves, will notably be seeking backing for its campaign to slash abundant global crude production in a bid to raise prices.

President Nicolas Maduro’s government also hopes to use the event to burnish its international legitimacy and counter US “imperialist” power by strengthening the international body and turn it into a “spearhead” to transform the US centric United Nations system.

The host is beset by its internal economic and political problems. While the government is actively seeking to strengthen its diplomatic options, opponents seeking to overthrow President Maduro are likely to hold political demonstrations in the coming days, as Venezuela continues to face its worst economic crisis in decades. According to AFP, Venezuelan opposition leaders have already condemned the summit as a marginal event, slamming it for being a waste of government funds which can be better utilized. The speaker of the opposition-majority legislature, Henry Ramos Allup, dismissed it as a “meeting of dictators,” while fellow opposition leader Henrique Capriles called it “a joke to hungry Venezuelans.”

On the broader scheme of things, a Cold War Bloc like the Non-Aligned Movement summit has been questioned for its relevance post- Cold War. However, it has managed to retain some relevance as an alternate platform to other supranational bodies by being a collective body opposing foreign occupation, interference in internal affairs and aggressive unilateral measures. In recent years it has also shifted to focus on the socio-economic challenges facing member states, and it is expected to take the key stage in the current summit.