Distinguished Ilham Heydarovich!

Distinguished Heads of Delegations!

Ladies and Gentlemen!

I sincerely welcome all participants of the Summit of Contact Group.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to the President of Azerbaijan, dear Ilham Heydarovich Aliyev, for the warm hospitality extended to the forum participants and the superb arrangement of our meeting in the beautiful and marvelous city of Baku.

I would like to underline that during the presidency of the Leader of Azerbaijan, the international prestige and profile of the Non-Aligned Movement have dramatically increased.

Multilateral cooperation of our countries has reached a new level within the framework of this important platform.

Despite all challenges during the pandemic, we have been able to further consolidate our unity and solidarity. For the first time in the history of the Organization, the Parliamentary and Youth networks have been established.

All of these accomplishments are a bright testament to great efforts and active leadership, as well as practical actions carried out by my dear colleague Ilham Heydarovich Aliyev for the benefit of member states.

In this regard, I’m glad to emphasize that despite the difficult situation, the President of Azerbaijan has achieved remarkable results in developing the country's economy, raising the living standards of the population, strengthening the international prestige and image of the country.

At the same time, it is important to highlight my dear brother’s endeavors aimed at the reconstruction of social and economic infrastructure in regions, where historical justice has been restored, the building of new facilities and creating a conducive environment for the population.

Dear participants of the Summit!

Analysis shows that in recent years humanity, along with fighting the pandemic, has been facing the dire consequences of climate change, natural and man-made disasters.

These problems are becoming yet more extensive in scale and posing a danger to the security and sustainable development of not only specific countries, but entire regions.

Certainly, we can overcome such difficult and complex challenges only together, and by closely supporting each other.

In this regard, Uzbekistan is committed to supporting the further strengthening of the activities of the Global platform to achieve the key objectives of the Sendai Framework 2030.

In the meantime, in order to thoroughly study the causes of such emergencies and efficiently mitigate the consequences of disasters, I propose to set up a Special Monitoring and Research Network of the Non-Aligned Movement.

We are ready to accommodate this Institute in Uzbekistan.

Dear participants of the Forum!

We are all concerned about increasing geopolitical and ideological contradictions in the post-pandemic period, which create new clusters of instability in various parts of the world.

In addition, no global solution has been found so far to long-standing conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

I would like to especially emphasize the growing urgency of strengthening practical cooperation within the framework of the Organization to counteract the increasing threat of terrorism and extremism in all countries.

In such a dangerous situation, we call on the Non-Aligned Movement to lead our common aspirations to strengthen the international legal framework for combating all manifestations of terrorism.

We firmly believe in the further intensification of multilateral cooperation of all members of the Movement in this process within the framework of the United Nations Organization.

The United Nations and its specialized structures should play a key role in systemic coordination and effectively addressing this problem on an international level.

In this regard, in the process of reforming the UN in the future, the members of the Non-Aligned Movement should have permanent seats in the Security Council.

In this context, I hope you will support Uzbekistan’s initiative to set up an International Group of Negotiations on reaching an agreement for the algorithm of actions to address the Afghan issue under the UN auspices.

Yet another important issue on the global agenda is the mitigation of the consequences of the ongoing economic crisis which is far from being over.

We all suffer from the adverse effects of weakened global trade relations, disruptions in industrial and logistical supply chains.

In addition, a growing shortage of food, water and energy resources is turning into a serious test for socio-economic systems of our countries.

Regretfully, developing countries carry the biggest burden and feel a negative impact in such a difficult situation in the first place.

I would like to reiterate that such high-profile events like this summit should, in the first place, open the window of great economic opportunities that will facilitate mutual practical cooperation and promote regional joint programs and large-scale projects.

In order to fulfill these aspirations, I propose to hold the Non-Aligned Movement’s economic forum prior to the summits of the Organization.

I am confident that such important events, first of all, will help to accelerate the exchange of innovations, modern knowledge and advanced technologies, as well as create a solid foundation for the development of the fourth industrial revolution, in particular, the smart economy.

Distinguished Heads of Delegations!

We have yet another important matter.

It would be true to say that our youth feel the negative impact of the pandemic in the first place.

Their access to quality education and professional skills, as well as to healthcare and sport is dramatically decreasing.

To make things worse, the younger generation is losing their confidence and determination to find their decent place in this life.

In addition, destructive and radical ideologies are ever-increasing their harmful influence on the minds of thousands of youth.

Last year in Tashkent we hosted the Second World Conference Early Childhood care and Education, which was aimed at finding solutions to these matters.

In order to harmonize our policies and plans, and share experience, we intend to hold the Unbounded Opportunities Summit of the Movement’s Youth network next year in the ancient city of Samarkand – one of the centers of the world civilization.

Dear friends!

Once again, we sincerely congratulate our brothers from Azerbaijan on the productive presidency of the Organization and the success of this summit.

There is no doubt that all views and opinions, proposals and initiatives put forward today will promote the common prosperity and well-being of our nations.

Thank you for your attention.