By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, May 5: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said on Monday that Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) must use its numerical and moral strength to unite the world at the present critical moment of human history.
Addressing the virtual Summit of the NAM under the theme of “United against COVID-19” today, the Prime Minister said that humanity was at stake and all the countries were fighting a common but an invisible enemy.
“The virus has tested our ability and exposed our vulnerability. Global trading and travel linkages are disrupted, businesses have collapsed, jobs are vanished, education systems are disrupted,” he said.
Prime Minister Oli said that nothing was more important than the protection of human life and saving humanity, and this should be the supreme duty of governments.
Stating that economic loss could be revived, technology could be reinvented and prosperity could be achieved, the Prime Minister said, “We cannot revive the loss of precious human life, which is also the loss of human capital, talents, expertise and ideas. So, life comes first of all other considerations.”
He further said that human health must be the topmost priority.
Prime Minister Oli also said that Nepal had deployed all political, economic, human and technological resources at the disposal to contain the spread of the coronavirus. He also informed the NAM member States about the measures taken by the government and said no death from COVID-19 had occurred in Nepal.
Stating that the Nepal government’s focus had been on both the prevention and mitigation of the pandemic, PM Oli maintained that his government had marshalled all resources and state machinery at federal, provincial and local levels to manage and respond to the crisis in a coherent way.
Nepal had upgraded health facilities, incentivised health care workers, and ensured accessible health services for all, said Oli.
“We have pursued combination of measures, such as, testing, contact-

tracing, quarantine and social distancing. At the same time, we have enforced temporary measures,
such as, nation-wide lockdown, suspension of international flights and restriction in cross-border movement of the people,” he stated.
The Prime Minister also underlined the unprecedented economic impact on remittances and tourism and the hardship that our people face, in particular the small enterprises, peasants and daily wage earners.
The Prime Minister called for the robust global response to such a crisis of large proportion and highlighted the indispensable role of the United Nations and its specialised agency, WHO.
The Prime Minister further underlined that the NAM must remain united and support multilateralism and global cooperation to defeat COVID-19, consolidate the voice of the poorest and most vulnerable, scale up South-South Cooperation by way of sharing experience,transfer of technology, medical logistics and equipment, coordinate and advocate for a robust recovery package from the international community.
Prime Minister Oli welcomed the proposal to establish the NAM Task Force to work out a database that will include requirements of NAM Member States and appreciated the initiative to establish the NAM Contact Group for collective fight against the pandemic.
The Summit adopted an 18-point declaration.