COVID-19: In a first, PM Modi to take part in virtual NAM summit today

For the first time since taking up the leadership of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in the virtual summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on Monday (May 4).

According to several reports, the summit is expected to commence at 4:30 pm IST with a view to discuss ways to battle the coronavirus pandemic in a united manner.

This is the first time since becoming the Prime Minister of India in 2014 that Narendra Modi would be representing the country in the NAM summit, since he skipped the meeting in 2016 and 2019.

In 2016 in Venezuela and 2019 in Azerbaijan, the country was represented by the vice president while Manmohan Singh took part in the 2012 Tehran meet.

The NAM meeting, which will also be attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, is the largest grouping of countries outside of the United Nations and consists of 120 developing countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Azerbaijan is the president of the NAM till 2020 and is being ogranised under the leadership of its president Ilham Aliyev.