On March 2, the Summit-level Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group in response to COVID-19 on post-pandemic global recovery started in Baku.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is attending the Summit-Level Meeting.

President Ilham Aliyev welcomed Prime Minister of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria Aymen Benabderrahmane, Prime Cabinet Secretary of Republic of Kenya Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi, Vice President of Tanzania Philip Isdor Mpango, Vice-President of the Republic of Cuba Salvador Antonio Valdés Mesa, member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Vice President of the Gabonese Republic Mrs. Rose Christiane Raponda, President of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi, Chairwoman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željka Cvijanović, President of the Republic of Iraq Abdullatif Jamal Rashid, Head of the Presidency Council of Libya Mohamed Younis al-Menfi, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

They posed together for photographs.

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The Summit is attended by heads of state and government of about 70 countries, including Presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Libya, vice presidents of Cuba, Gabon, Tanzania, Prime Ministers of Algeria and Kenya, high-level representatives of various countries, heads of international organizations - Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) Zurab Pololikashvili, Director General of International Organization for Migration (IOM) António Vitorino, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UN Geneva) Tatiana Valovaya, Secretary General of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Khusrav Noziri, as well as ministers, deputy ministers, ambassadors and others.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan today is not only represented in a number of international institutions as a member state, but is also closely involved in the adoption and implementation of many decisions. The Non-Aligned Movement, an important political platform for the establishment and development of effective cooperation among 120 countries of the world, is experiencing its most successful period during the chairmanship of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, which has become a leading actor in the region and is becoming increasingly influential in the world, has been chairing the Non-Aligned Movement for a period of three years since 2019. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan's chairmanship coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, Baku assumed the role of global leadership at a time when most of the world's countries were locked, and became one of the first states to promote international solidarity and cooperation in tackling the global problem. It was under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan that the Non-Aligned Movement mobilized the world community in the fight against the pandemic. On the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev, an online Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in response to COVID-19 was held in May 2020. In December of the same year, a Special Session of the UN General Assembly dedicated to the fight against the pandemic was organized. This session is considered the most global event in the fight against the pandemic. On the initiative of Azerbaijan, resolutions on the fair distribution of vaccines were adopted both in the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council.

One of the major successes of Azerbaijan's chairmanship has been the establishment of the National Assembly. During the chairmanship of Azerbaijan, the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Youth Organization were established. For the first time in the 61-year history of the Movement, a Youth Organization was established in Shusha, bringing together the youth of the Movement's member countries.

In addition to this, its membership and chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement has earned Azerbaijan strong international support in the fight against Armenia's aggression. It is no coincidence that the biased initiatives against Azerbaijan in the UN Security Council in 2020 and 2022 were thwarted by member states of the Movement.

As a result of the full confidence of the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement in Azerbaijan, and based on a unanimous opinion of member states, Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the organization was extended for another year, i.e. until the end of 2023. The Summit-level Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group in response to COVID-19 on post-pandemic global recovery being held in Baku today once again shows that Azerbaijan is making an important contribution to the activities of the organization. At the same time, the fact that Azerbaijan is once again hosting an important meeting where global issues are to be discussed is a manifestation of the importance the country attaches to multilateralism and global solidarity.