Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc delivers a speech at the online Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement on Monday.

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has suggested member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) step up cooperation and share experience at all levels and in all spheres during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

He made the suggestions at an online Summit of the NAM on Monday that saw the attendance of heads of states/governments of 40 member countries at the initiative of Azerbaijan. 

The present context requires the NAM to strengthen and affirm the spirit of solidarity in order to overcome challenges and stamp out the pandemic, he stressed.

Member countries should map out strategies to complete the twin target of containing the disease and developing the economy, ensuring social welfare, the PM proposed.

He also called for support for enhancing multilateralism and international solidarity, and persistently pursuing major multilateral commitments.

The NAM should continue to play the leading role in promoting respect for the law, democratising international relations, opposing power-based political behaviour, promoting the lifting of sanctions and unilateral embargoes, and responding to the UN Secretary General’s appeal for a global ceasefire to maintain an international environment of peace and stability.

Phúc attributed Việt Nam’s active achievements in the COVID-19 fight to the involvement of the entire political system and society with the spirit of “fighting the pandemic as if fighting an enemy”.

The Vietnamese Government has made all-out efforts to fight the disease while ensuring social welfare so that nobody is left behind, he emphasised.

The leader also spoke of Việt Nam’s efforts in its capacity as ASEAN Chair 2020 and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in forging regional and international cooperation in order to effectively contain the epidemic.

He highlighted Việt Nam’s financial and material contributions to some countries affected by the illness.

The UN General Assembly President, the UN Secretary General and the WHO Director General also attended the event.

At the end of the summit, member countries issued a joint statement supporting multilateralism as well as the role of international organisations in general, and the UN and the WHO in particular, while calling for enhanced international cooperation.

NAM member countries also condemned and called for the lifting of unilateral embargoes that violate the UN Charter and international law, and target some of its member states.

They agreed to establish the Non-Aligned Movement Task Force to work on a database that will include the basic humanitarian and medical needs and requirements of NAM member states.

Established in 1961, NAM is dedicated to representing the interests and aspirations of developing countries, and now has 120 members from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting for 60 per cent of UN members. Việt Nam joined the organisation in 1976.