EqcoNews: President of Azerbaijan reviving original spirit of NAM

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is reviving the original spirit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which is taking on a new context in connection with the war in Ukraine, reads an article by the head of the Africa & Sharing analytical center, president of CERAD, Professor Christian Gambotti, in the online edition of Eqco News, Report informs.

Mentioning that NAM is a platform that originated during the Cold War, the author notes that after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the existence of the movement began to seem less justified.

“Today, the context generated by the war in Ukraine testifies to the birth of a world that has once again become multipolar and polycentric in terms of globalization, a new Cold War. The Non-Aligned Movement, which includes 120 states and 17 observer countries, is thus regaining its weight and legitimacy. It is this original spirit of NAM that the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, wants to revive,” says Christian Gambotti.

Gambotti stressed that NAM is an opportunity for Azerbaijan to promote a diplomacy of balance backed by a policy of solidarity between states. The professor reminded that in September 2019, Azerbaijan became the chair country of the Movement, and later its mandate was extended by the participants until the end of 2023.

“Azerbaijan is geographically located at the center of many geopolitical, geo-economic and geo-strategic contradictions,” the author notes, adding that in the South Caucasus region, Ilham Aliyev, without denying the existence of diverging interests between individual countries and between new blocs, always uses diplomacy of balance in favor of peace and economic cooperation.

The article notes that during Azerbaijan’s NAM presidency, the country campaigned to make COVID vaccines available to the world’s least developed countries.

“In March 2023, Azerbaijan organized a summit of the NAM countries in Baku, which discussed the post-COVID economic recovery in the member countries of the Movement, in particular the African states, which were all invited. In order to reduce the risks of conflicts and spread NAM ideas, Azerbaijan initiated in 2022 the creation of a parliamentary network of the movement. In addition, the Youth Organization of the Platform Countries was created,” Gambotti emphasizes in his article.

In conclusion, the professor noted that the current Baku summit will allow the NAM countries to play an important role in building peace throughout the world.