The Summit of the Non-aligned movement Contact group, held at the initiative of the President Ilham Aliyev, serves to further strengthen international solidarity in the fighting against global pandemic.

Our country was accepted as full member of the Non-aligned movement in 2011. At the Summit of the movement's member countries held in Venezuela in 2016, unanimous decision was made related to assignment 2019-2022 chairmanship to Azerbaijan. Our country's chairmanship, within short time after its membership in the non-aligned movement, which is the second largest international institution after the UN General Assembly and is represented by 120 states, is clear example of increasing the confidence of member states to Azerbaijan and international authority of our country, as well providing support from international community to global efforts of Azerbaijan. The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, who chaired the summit of the Non-aligned movement Contact group held in the format of a videoconference, made history with another global initiative on May 4. The head of our state, making a call for peace from Baku at the Summit, said: "Only together we will beat COVID-19". It is noteworthy that all the member states of the Non-aligned movement supported this initiative unanimously. A video message from the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was presented to more than 40 heads of state and government of the member states of the Summit. The Secretary General thanked the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for this initiative. The appeal emphasizes that the scale and complexity of this crisis require coordinated global reaction. In the video message, as well in all the speeches of the heads of state and government of many member states of the organization, this initiative of the President of Azerbaijan in the fighting against the pandemic was highly appreciated. This once again shows the trust, faith and confidence in our country and President. The Summit of the Non-aligned movement Contact group proved once again that Azerbaijan takes effective steps in the fighting against COVID-19 not only at national level, but also makes significant contribution to the strengthening solidarity and cooperation against the coronavirus on regional and global scale. The gratitude of the UN Secretary General for such a meeting at the Summit is the result of personal authority, political experience and successful policy of the President of Azerbaijan. At the meeting, Mr. Ilham Aliyev called on the countries of the world to unite their efforts during the pandemic, to continue concrete measures related to the prevention of illegal financial flows, and to mobilization of additional funds with this purpose. He noted that the pandemic can only be defeated by means of global cooperation and solidarity. As responsible and reliable member of the world community, Azerbaijan has supported calls for global solidarity and provided financial assistance to WHO since the first days of the coronavirus threat. In connection with the expansion of the measures related to the fighting against the pandemic, our country specified additional voluntary financial support to WHO in order to meet necessary needs of the most affected members of the Non-aligned movement. Thanks to flexible reaction of the head of state to the spread of the infection in Azerbaijan, Operational headquarters was established under the Cabinet of Ministers, and coordination between state structures was provided. The mass media conducted wide education work on the protection from the infection, and the importance of measures such as maintaining social distance was explained to the citizens in detail. With the purpose of treating the coronavirus patients, more than 20 hospitals were allocated in the country, laboratory testing were conducted, and medical equipment and supplies necessary for the diagnosis and treatment of the virus were imported. For economic and financial stability and solving the employment problems in the country, social and economic support package in the amount of more than 3.5 billion manats was approved. The salaries of more than 900,000 employees in public sector were paid by the government in full, while in the non-state sector, significant part of the salaries of 690,000 employees was paid. At the same time, 600,000 low-income, unemployed and unofficially working citizens were paid funds in accordance with the subsistence minimum for two months. It is planned to create 90,000 paid public jobs for social protection of unemployed by the end of the year. The policy pursued in Azerbaijan during this difficult period is able to be an example for a number of the countries. The fact that the Director-General of WHO praised the policy pursued and steps taken by the President of Azerbaijan to limit the impact and scale of COVID-19 pandemic, and underlined the loyalty of the fighting against coronavirus in our country by the letter of appreciation, once again proved that a citizen of Azerbaijan is at the centre of social policy of our state. Extraordinary videoconference summit of Turkic Council on April 10, chaired by Mr. Ilham Aliyev, dedicated to joint measures to fighting against COVID-19 pandemic, was also new success and significant step in direction of further strengthening the unity of Turkic world. Turkish Council is the first international organization on a global scale which hold a summit on the coronavirus pandemic at the level of heads of state. As a result of done work, today, there cooperative relations formed in 3 fields within Turkic Council - in the fields of health, transport and economy. In the fighting against the pandemic that has engulfed the world, Turkic States helped not only each other, but also other countries, demonstrated unity and solidarity, which showed that they have greater supreme values. And the presentation of this initiative by Azerbaijan is a pride for each of our compatriots living far outside of our country. Both summits showed that, as the Chair of the Council, the President of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, fulfils his duties also in emergency situations, which is an example of unity and at the same time reliable cooperation, which is able to be an example for the whole world. At the summit of the Non-aligned movement Contact group at online level, the Declaration consisting of 18 points was adopted in response to COVID-19. The document reflects mutual support of the members of the movement in different fields. All these once again confirms that the next global initiative of the President of Azerbaijan will further deepen the cooperation between the member states of the Non-aligned movement in the fighting against the pandemic. The summit, held at the initiative of the President Ilham Aliyev, is an indicator of that its main goal is to further strengthen international solidarity with purpose of the fighting against global pandemic, to call on the world countries to unite with this purpose, to unite them in order to save humanity from this terrible disaster, and also an indicator of that authority of Azerbaijan constantly grows on global scale