Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has delivered a speech at a summit of the heads of state of the Non-Aligned Movement’s (NAM) contact group, which was held on Monday evening through video-conference.
The meeting started with a speech by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan Republic as the President of the 18th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.
Given that the Non-Aligned Movement includes 120 countries, the Summit was held in the format of a Contact Group with the participation of countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, based on the principle of geographical representation.
Representatives from 40 countries attended the online meeting, including 19 presidents, a vice president, six prime ministers, a deputy prime minister, eight foreign ministers and an interior minister.
Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, the President of the 74th General Assembly of the United Nations, António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization also delivered speeches and messages to the NAM leaders.
Among the main speakers of the summit was President Rouhani of Iran, who presented a report on Iran’s performance in containing and fighting against the novel coronavirus.
In his speech, he also lashed out at the US administration for defunding the World Health Organization amid the global fight against the COVID-19, and described it as a strategic mistake.
