BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 15. A decision was made to establish a Parliamentary Support Group in order to support the initiatives put forward by the President of Azerbaijan and the Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ilham Aliyev at the Summit of the NAM Contact Group in response to COVID-19, held on March 2 this year in Baku, Trend reports via the Azerbaijani Parliament.
According to the parliament, the above decision was made during the 2nd Conference of the NAM Parliamentary Network (PN) in Manama, held on March 13.
The conference, chaired by the Chair of the Azerbaijani Parliament and the NAM Parliamentary Network Sahiba Gafarova was attended by over 300 delegates, including speakers from 20 parliaments and delegations from more than 60 countries.
The event was marked by the adoption of a number of important documents.
According to the decision proposed by the Azerbaijani Parliament and unanimously supported by the organization's member parliaments, the main task of the Parliamentary Group, created within the framework of the NAM Parliamentary Network, will be to support and promote at the world level the initiatives of President Ilham Aliyev regarding the Global Appeals for Support to African countries and developing small island states, as well as appeals to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for the creation of a high-level UN panel to develop appropriate recommendations for global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Manama Declaration, adopted as the final document of the conference, reflects the common position of the member parliaments regarding the challenges and opportunities for modern cooperation, current and future priorities of the activity of the NAM Parliamentary Network.
The conference also adopted a decision "On granting observer status to international parliamentary organizations in the NAM Parliamentary Network”.
By this decision, the OIC Parliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Cooperation Organization, the International Congress of Parliamentarians and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization were granted observer status.
The interest of other international parliamentary organizations in cooperation with the NAM Parliamentary Network testifies to the strengthening of the role of the parliamentary network in international parliamentary diplomacy.
The conference also adopted decision to make a number of changes to the rules of the Parliamentary Network, aimed at ensuring a more flexible and efficient functioning of the network.
The NAM Parliamentary Network was established during the Inaugural Meeting on November 28, 2021, in Madrid, Spain with the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev. At the meeting, the Madrid Declaration on the establishment of the NAM PN was adopted.
The First Conference of NAM PN was held in Baku, Azerbaijan on June 30 -July 1, 2022. Nearly 400 participants from more than 40 parliaments and eight international inter-parliamentary organizations worldwide participated in the Baku Conference. NAM PN Baku Conference was an important milestone in the institutional development of the interparliamentary organization. During the Conference Baku Statute (Statute on working modalities of the Non-Aligned Movement Parliamentary Network) and Baku Declaration were adopted.