President of the United Nations General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad Bande has thanked Azerbaijan for its initiative to hold a special session on cooperation with the countries in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The proposal to hold a special session on the pandemic by the General Assembly is a veritable platform to mobilize global commitment against the pandemic,” said the President of the UN General Assembly as he addressed a special meeting on organization of the session.

“We thank Azerbaijan, as Chair of NAM (Non-Aligned Movement), for pushing for this very important session and the General Assembly for accepting to hold the special session,” Muhammad Bande underlined.

“The co-facilitators with your cooperation and support, have produced a solid draft as a good basis for negotiation. And I trust that the special session will ensure greater involvement of world leaders toward a result-oriented response to the pandemic. This will further strengthen the General Assembly as a critical global partner in the fight against the pandemic and its impact on lives and livelihood.

Indeed, I trust that this special session will be a vehicle for a coordinated response from the international community,” he added.