President Aliyev hails Azerbaijan’s fight against COVID-19

By Azernews

By Aisha Jabbarova

President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan has been able to prevent mass spread of COVID-19 due to the measures taken in the country.

Aliyev made the remarks during the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in the format of a Contact Group via videoconference on May 4. The summit was held under the motto "United against COVID-19" and the chairmanship of President Aliyev.  

“As a result of all the measures taken in the country, it has been possible to prevent mass infections. Over the past three weeks, there has been a positive trend between the number of people infected and those recovering in Azerbaijan,” the president said.

The head of state stressed that his administration’s priority during the pandemic has been to protect residents’ health and ensure their social protection.

He also highlighted the work done to ensure economic stability in Azerbaijan during the pandemic, solve employment problems and maintain macroeconomic and financial stability, noting that a socioeconomic support package worth 3.5 billion manats ($2.06bn) had been allocated for this purpose.

Furthermore, the president called for global solidarity amid the COVID-19 outbreak, saying that “we can overcome COVID-19 with mutual support, self-control and joint efforts only.”

As an example of global solidarity as members of the Non-Aligned Movement, the head of state proposed to hold a special video conference of the UN General Assembly at the level of heads of state and government dedicated to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The summit was joined by heads of state and government from more than 40 member states as well as officials from the WHO, EU and UN.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who joined the summit, gave a high assessment to Azerbaijan's support for the organization. He thanked the government and people of Azerbaijan for the financial support of the WHO in the amount of $5 million and expressed his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for providing an additional $5 million to the organization.

Furthermore, President of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande said that no country could overcome this difficulty on its own. “As the United Nations, we are very pleased to support such initiatives and want to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. We would also like to see inequality among all states and nations eliminated.”

The event then featured a video address by UN Secretary-General António Guterres who said that “with two-thirds of UN member states, the Non-Aligned Movement, has a critical role to play in forging global solidarity.”

Emphasizing the importance of global solidarity and international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, the Director-General said that efforts should focus on long-term multilateral action covering various areas at the level of society as a whole.

In a video address, the EU High Representative and European Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell said that COVID-19 showed how interconnected different parts of the world were and that it was a global call for awakening. He welcomed the Non-Aligned Movement's initiative to convene a summit, saying that defeating the pandemic required a global approach and coordinated response.

It should be noted that this was the second summit initiated by Azerbaijan on COVID-19.  Azerbaijan chaired the Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States on COVID-19 on 10 April.

Azerbaijan, a nation of ten million, has registered 2,060 COVID-19 cases so far. Some 1,508 of the patients have recoveredand 26 people have died.