18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of Non-Aligned Movement gets underway in Baku

Azerbaijan took over NAM chairmanship

The 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement member countries has today kicked off in Baku.

Held under the motto "Upholding Bandung principles to ensure a concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world", the Summit brings together heads of state and government of nearly 60 countries, as well as heads of international organizations.

Representatives of about 160 countries and international organizations are attending the event.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev welcomed Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko, Chairman of the State Council of the Sultanate of Oman Yahya bin Mahfoudh al-Mantheri, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Choe Ryong Hae, Prime Minister of Libya Fayez Seraj, Prime Minister of Nepal Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir bin Mohamad, Vice President of India Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of Vietnam Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, President of Equatorial Guinea Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Sudan Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik, President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of the Republic of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Algeria Abdelkader Bensalah, President of Namibia Hage Gottfried Geingob, President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro, King Mswati III of eSwatini, President of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel, President of Turkmenistan Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov, President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, President of Pakistan Arif Alvi, who attended the Summit.

The heads of state and government posed together for a group photo.

Current chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro opened the Summit and made a speech at the event.

The chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement then was handed to Azerbaijan.

Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a speech at the Summit.

The Summit then was continued under the chairmanship of President Ilham Aliyev.

The agenda of the Summit was approved, the Bureau members were elected, and the list of states and organizations which are special guests was approved.

Speakers at the Summit included President of the United Nations General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, Chair of the Group of 77 Riyad Mansour, and Azerbaijan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov.

Following the speeches, President Ilham Aliyev declared the 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement closed.

After the break, the Summit will continue with general debates.

Adoption of 4 final documents is expected at the Summit.

The Non-Aligned Movement emerged in the context of the wave of decolonization that followed World War II. At the 1955 Bandung Conference (the Asian-African Conference), the conference's attendees, many of whose countries had recently gained their independence, called for "abstention from the use of arrangements of collective defense to serve the particular interests of any of the big powers."

Azerbaijan became full-fledged member of the Movement in May 2011.

Azerbaijan, which hosts the 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, will chair the structure in 2019-2022.