POLITICS
Union of OIC News Agencies portal highlights Azerbaijani President's initiative to hold Non-Aligned Movement's Summit on COVID-19
Baku, April 28, AZERTAC
The portal of the Union of OIC News Agencies (UNA-OIC) has published an article headlined "Initiated by Azerbaijani President, NAM to hold summit of Contact Group on COVID-19."
The article reads: “On the initiative of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who is also the chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a Summit of the NAM's Contact Group will be held through videoconference on May 4.
The summit entitled "We stand together against COVID-19" will focus on the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Assistant to the President, Head of the Department for Foreign Policy Affairs of Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev told Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC).
He said it was important to enhance international solidarity and mobilize the efforts of states and international organizations to address the pandemic, noting that President Aliyev's initiative was unanimously supported by the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The leadership of the United Nations, the African Union, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations will also join the videoconference summit.
"We hope that the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group's Summit will make a significant contribution to the mobilization of NAM member states in the fight against coronavirus, strengthening of solidarity and multilateralism," Hikmat Hajiyev emphasized.
The 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the NAM member countries was held under the chairmanship of President Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan on 25-26 October 2019. Azerbaijan took over the NAM Chairmanship for 2019-2022.
The promotion of multilateral diplomacy, strengthening cooperation and solidarity between the NAM member states was identified as one of the key priorities of Azerbaijan's chairmanship of the organization.
On 10 April 2020, on the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev, who is the chairman of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States, an Extraordinary Summit of the Turkic Council was held through videoconference to discuss the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The Government of Azerbaijan donated $5 million in voluntary financial aid to the COVID-19 response fund as part of the WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan that aims to contribute to global efforts to contain the virus outbreak.”