Senior Officials Meeting

The Senior Officials Meeting was held on 21 and 22 October 2019. The officials discussed the final document of the Summit, as well as a joint statement of NAM leaders and two documents to be presented for foreign ministers’ meeting.^[21]

Ministerial Meeting

The Ministerial Meeting with the presence of foreign ministers of NAM countries was held on 23 and 24 October 2019. Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Alberto Arreaza Montserrat, handed the presidency of the ministerial meeting for three years at the opening ceremony of the meeting. After opening remark of Elmar Mammadyarov and listening to the report of Senior Officials Meeting which was delivered by George Arreaza, the ministers starts to review the documents (Final Document, Baku Declaration, Declaration on Palestine and the General Report).^{[20][22][23][24][25][26]}

Leaders’ Summit

On 25 October, the summit was inaugurated by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Then the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, as the chair of the 17th summit declared the opening of the 18th summit and presented the report of NAM's chairmanship during the past three years. Maduro officially handed the presidency of the Non-Aligned Movement to the Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev. After Maduro, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of the 74th session of the General Assembly of United Nations 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 delivered their opening speeches.^[27]

Inaugurating the summit, Azerbaijani President Aliyev condemned changing borders by force, violating the territorial integrity of countries by force, and interfering in internal affairs as “unacceptable”.^[27]

Following Aliyev's remarks, the United Nations General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande appreciated the contribution of NAM to the achievements of the United Nations for strengthening “the principles of the Charter of the United Nations – through opposition against colonialism, racism, hegemony, aggression, as well as foreign intervention and/or occupation”.^[28]

In her speech, Rosemary DiCarlo welcomed NAM's focus on the challenge of disarmament and non-proliferation, also highlighted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development goals “in reducing inequality, in addressing the climate crisis, in tackling global hunger, in achieving gender equality and in expanding opportunity for young people”.^[29]

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized United States’ efforts “to impose on the world a unipolar and hegemonic order under the slogan of the new global system with reliance on its military, economic and media power”, as well as its monetary policy “to put political pressure on independent states”^[30]

India's Vice President Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu called for fighting against all forms of terrorism and spread of violent extremism. He expressed the deep concern over Pakistan's behavior in terms of Jammu and Kashmir issue.^[31][32]

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel stated Cuba's solidarity with the peoples “who fight for rejection of America's unilateral decisions in support of Israel and against Iran; and the call to end the war against the Syrian people and find a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.^[33]

Within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit, four documents were signed:^[34]

• Baku Final Outcome Document
• Baku Declaration
• Motion of Thanks and Solidarity with the People of and Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan
• Declaration on Palestine
• Declaration on Bolivia

The summit's final document ratified on October 26 by the 120 members of NAM, emphasizes strengthen NAM solidarity in combating terrorism while highlighting that terrorism should not be associated with any religion, nationality, civilization or ethnic group. It declared the central importance of the development dimensions in trade negotiations and maintain that a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round. Besides, it condemns promulgation and application of unilateral coercive measures against Member States of the Movement. Member states called serious, collective efforts to bring a complete end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with and in full respect of international law. In addition, Member States expressed their regret in regard with the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh remains unresolved and continues to threaten international and regional peace and security despite the United Nations Security Council resolutions.^[35]

Youth Summit

The Youth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement was organized for the first time in NAM's history in Baku on October 24 on the initiative of Azerbaijan. Youth from 40 countries participated at the Summit. Recommendations to the Summit of Heads of State and Government were presented as a result of the Youth Summit. In addition, establishing NAM Youth Network was initiated.^[36][20]