Azerbaijani Parliament Speaker Sahiba Gafarova has spoken at the 5th World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, held in Vienna, in discussions about how global response to the COVID pandemic complicates multilateral assistance to people, Report informs referring to the press service of the Press and Public Relations Department of the Azerbaijani Parliament.
Noting the great need for the international community to intensify efforts in the fight against the COVID pandemic, Sahiba Gafarova provided information about the initiatives and measures taken by Azerbaijan on a global scale in the battle against the pandemic. The chairperson noted that to support international efforts to eliminate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, Azerbaijan, as the chair country of the Non-Aligned Movement, organized the online summit of the Non-aligned Movement contact group in response to COVID-19. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement in May 2020 through video-conferencing. On behalf of the movement, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev proposed holding a special session of the UN General Assembly at the level of heads of state and government, dedicated to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative was supported by more than 150 UN member states, and in December 2020, a special session of the UN General Assembly on the fight against COVID-19 was held in New York.
Gafarova brought to the attention of the participants that Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian and financial assistance to more than 30 countries fighting the pandemic.
She reminded that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the global supply chain. Promoting connectivity and the development of multimodal transport corridors through the facilitation of transport and trade, including digital technology, will strengthen the resilience of the global supply chain and help states in their efforts to recover in the post-pandemic period. The speaker said that Azerbaijan’s trans-regional transport projects will contribute to these goals.
Reminding that Azerbaijan has put forward several proposals to take decisive, targeted, and coordinated steps in the post-pandemic period, Gafarova said that holding a summit meeting of the Movement’s member states to form the position of the Non-Aligned Movement on the period of recovery from the pandemic is one of such proposals.
Azerbaijan also considers it appropriate for the Non-Aligned Movement to come up with an initiative to create a UN High-level Panel on global recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. This panel can prepare recommendations for global action to more successfully and quickly lead the world out of the pandemic.