Baku, May 25, AZERTAC

Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadarov, who is in New York to attend the events dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the country's membership to the United Nations, has met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The sides hailed the current level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov conveyed sincere greetings of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Antonio Guterres. Recalling with pleasure his meetings with President Ilham Aliyev, Guterres asked Mammadyarov to extend his greetings and best wishes to the head of state.

Minister Mammadyarov talked about the highly-appreciated support of the UN and its specialized institutions to Azerbaijan since the beginning of its independence, in particular provided humanitarian aid and assistance for the internally displaced persons resulting from the aggression of Armenia.

Furthermore, FM Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan has consistently demonstrated its strong commitment to the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and international law, and has staunchly supported the Organization and has actively contributed to its activities. He noted that Azerbaijan has joined the Sustainable Development Goals 2016-2030 and recalled Executive Order by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on the Establishment of the National Coordination Council on Sustainable Development, which is instructed to identify national priorities and their indicators until 2030, in line with the global development goals and targets, adapt the relevant State programs and strategies to the SDGs and prepare annual national SDG progress reports.

FM Mammadyarov emphasized that Azerbaijan has also paid particular attention to addressing the needs of the developing and least developed countries, as well as those recovering from natural disasters. He added that over the years, Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian and other assistance to a number of countries from different regions through Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Azerbaijan International Development Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minister Mammadyarov stressed out that election of Azerbaijan to ECOSOC for 2017-2019 would create further opportunities for Azerbaijan’s contributions to international development.

He also pointed that the Government of Azerbaijan attaches primary importance to the promotion of intercultural and interreligious dialogue at the national and international levels and added that 2016 and 2017 were declared the Year of Multiculturalism and the Year of Islamic Solidarity respectively in Azerbaijan. Elmar Mammadyarov mentioned that Azerbaijan proudly hosted the 7th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in April 2016, with the theme “Living together in inclusive societies: a challenge and a goal”.

Meanwhile he said that Azerbaijan’s membership to the UN Security Council on a non-permanent seat and Azerbaijan’s presidency of the Security Council remains one of the most important occasions in the history of Azerbaijan-UN relationship.

Talking about the role of the UN in the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, main threats to the peace and security in the South Caucasus region, FM Mammadyarov stressed out that the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council are the basis for the resolution of the conflict. He regrettably added that the demands of those resolutions remain unfulfilled by Armenia. Minister Mammadyarov emphasized the importance of continuation of substantive negotiation for resolution of the conflict.

UN Secretary-General Guterres said that a close cooperation of Azerbaijan in the framework of the UN initiatives and programs and efforts being done for deepening of the relations are highly appreciated and added that this kind of meetings is a good platform for identifying perspective promising cooperation fields.

They also discussed issues of mutual interest.