Azerbaijan hosted Online Summit level Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Contact Group in response to COVID-19

On 4 May 2020, upon the initiative of H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, Online Summit level Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Contact Group in response to COVID-19, under the theme of “United against COVID-19 pandemic” was held.

Promoting the values of multilateralism to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of contemporary world is one of the chairmanship priorities of Azerbaijan in the NAM. Proceeding from this understanding and in view of the current global emergency caused by Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), President of the Republic of Azerbaijan has initiated the establishment of a Contact Group of the NAM Member States at the highest decision-making level with a view to assessing the impact of COVID-19 on NAM Member States and identifying their needs and requirements for possible remedies and action-oriented follow-up measures.

Given the restricted environment in organizing conventional meetings due to COVID-19 pandemic and taking into account the urgency of the matter, the Contact Group conducted its first meeting on an online basis.

The meeting was attended by 25 heads of state and government, 1 vice-president, 1 deputy prime minister and 11 ministers of NAM Member States.

H.E. Mr. Tijjani Muhammed-Bande, President of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, H.E. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization and H.E. Mr. Mousa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission have also joined to the Meeting.

H.E. Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of United Nations and H.E. Mr. Josep Borrell, High Representative, Vice-President of the European Commission have addressed the Meeting through video messages.

At the end of the Meeting, NAM Members States has adopted the Declaration. The text of the Declaration can be found in the “Azerbaijani Chairmanship/Documents” section of the NAM webpage.

May 05 , 2020