Azerbaijan president suggests forming UN high level panel on global recovery from COVID-19.

BAKU -- Chairman of Non-Aligned Movement ( NAM) and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on Thursday suggested establishing a UN High-Level Panel on Global Recovery from COVID-19 to elaborate recommendations on global measures for the post-pandemic period.

The NAM chairman, in his address at the plenary session of Summit of NAM Contact Group in response to COVID-19 being held here, said Azerbaijan would continue to provide financial and humanitarian assistance to NAM countries in need and call to support the post-pandemic recovery of Africa and Small Island Developing States.

The summit was attended by several heads of state and the top leadership and government of about 70 countries, NAM members.

The Azerbaijan president also announced that Azerbaijan, as the first donor, was allocating 1 million US dollars for both Global Calls.

He said that right after the beginning of the pandemic, NAM took the initiative to mobilize global efforts to counter COVID-19.

He said Azerbaijan provided coronavirus-related financial and humanitarian support to more than 80 countries, most of those from our NAM family either through bilateral channels or World Health Organization, he added.

"The pandemic had a negative impact on the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The global efforts should be reinforced to prevent, inter alia, backsliding on targets and to catch up with the 2030 Agenda," he remarked.

Elaborating the international issues, Aliyev said that the goal of NAM was to defend justice and international law.

He called for further strengthening the South-South cooperation guided by the principles of respect for sovereignty, national ownership, equality and mutual benefit. Its agenda is set by countries of the South themselves in line with their national needs and priorities, not imposed by the outside world, the Chairman of NAM said.

'Azerbaijan strongly supports the institutional development of the Non-Aligned Movement,' he emphasised and told the gathering that Azerbaijan initiated the establishment of the NAM Parliamentary Network and the NAM Youth Organization, the head of state noted:

'Our goal is to create institutional sustainability and to leave a successful legacy to the members who will take over the chairmanship after Azerbaijan.'

With 120 members, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is the second largest international institution after the UN General Assembly, he added.

President Aliyev said the international security...