Tashkent, November 9, AZERTAC

The 16th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization has been held in the city of Tashkent, the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the event.

President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev welcomed President Ilham Aliyev and other heads of state and government.

They posed together for a group photo.

A video highlighting the previous summits of the ECO and the meetings held by the heads of member states within the organization was screened at the event.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev opened the meeting, greeted the participants and provided information about the work done since the last Summit.

Congratulating President Ilham Aliyev on the occasion of Azerbaijan’s successful chairmanship of the Economic Cooperation Organization, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized that the events and initiatives carried out within the framework of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship in the year of “Green transition and mutual relations” had made a great contribution to the expansion of partnership. He said: “Tangible measures are being taken as part of the organization of the Clean Energy Center and Regional Electricity Market in Baku. A high-level dialogue platform has also been created in the field of ecology. In order to further expand cooperation in the tourism sector, a network of tour operators has been put in place formed for the first time and the Safe Tourism Development Program has been approved.”

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that Uzbekistan had digitized information related to cargo transportation with Azerbaijan and Türkiye, and similar projects were being implemented with other countries.

Secretary General of the ECO Khusrav Noziri said that the multimodal corridors agreed between Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Türkiye, as well as Azerbaijan and Iran, would contribute to the development of relations between the nations. Noting that energy was a very important area for the ECO, the Secretary General stressed the importance of signing the Charter in this direction.

Touching upon cooperation in the field of tourism, Khusrav Noziri said: “We are also attaching importance to the development of tourism potential. The concept of “Tourism Capitals” is a very important initiative. So far, six cities, including Tajikistan's Dushanbe, Iran's Sari and Ardabil, Uzbekistan's Shahrisabz, Türkiye’s Erzurum and Azerbaijan's Shusha, have been selected as “Tourism Capitals”. The selection of tourism will be a regular approach to promote the ideas of our rich cultural heritage and the beauty of our nature.”

The President of Azerbaijan addressed the Summit.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Distinguished Shavkat Miromonovich,

Distinguished Heads of State and Government,

Distinguished participants of the Summit,

I would like to express my gratitude to President of brotherly Uzbekistan Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev for the warm hospitality.

A successful strategic partnership is developing between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. Last year, I paid one state and two working visits to Uzbekistan. On my every visit, I witness the socio-economic development resulting from the implementation of comprehensive reforms carried out in Uzbekistan. I congratulate the leadership of Uzbekistan on these accomplishments.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s first state visit after his re-election as the President of Uzbekistan was undertaken to Azerbaijan. It once again demonstrates how deep brotherly relations between our two countries are.

Azerbaijan as an ECO member actively engages in the organization’s work. ECO Council of Ministers was hosted by Shusha last month. Yesterday, the Azerbaijani people were celebrating the third anniversary of the liberation of Shusha after almost 30 year-long Armenian occupation.

Azerbaijan’s transport-logistics infrastructure is accessible to the ECO Member States. In recent years, Azerbaijan has invested billions of US dollars in its transportation infrastructure. East-West and North-South Transport Corridors passing through Azerbaijan has turned our country into one of the transport and logistics hubs in Eurasia. The construction of Azerbaijani sections of both corridors have already been completed. Currently, works are underway to expand the cargo handling capacities of the rail roads along these two corridors.

In the last 20 years, more than 310 billion US dollars have been invested in Azerbaijan’s economy, around 200 billion US dollars of which being invested in the non-energy sector. This is an indicator of a good investment climate in our country.

We note with appreciation that Azerbaijan has been chosen as a host country for the ECO Clean Energy Center.

Particular focus is placed on the development of renewable energy sector in Azerbaijan. In addition to its rich oil and gas reserves, Azerbaijan also has 37 gigawatts of onshore wind and solar power and 157 gigawatts of wind energy potential in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

In the near future, Azerbaijan will also turn into a green and hydrogen energy exporter. The contracts and Memorandums of Understanding signed with the foreign investors - the leading green energy companies of the world, will enable Azerbaijan to produce renewable energy up to 10 gigawatts in the coming years.

This October, the 230-megawatt Garadagh Solar Power Plant was inaugurated in Azerbaijan. Developed by Masdar company, it is the largest solar power plant in the Caspian and the Caucasus regions.

From 2021 to 2023, hydropower plants with the capacity of 170 megawatts have been built in the liberated Karabakh and East Zangezur. By the end of 2024, the plants are expected to generate 270 megawatts of electricity. Within couple of years, overall capacity of the hydropower plants in the territories liberated from the Armenian occupation are to reach 500 megawatts.

For almost 30 years Armenia kept around 20% of the territories of Azerbaijan under military occupation. As a result of ethnic cleansing carried out by Armenia, more than one million Azerbaijanis were expelled from their ancestral lands becoming refugees and internally displaced persons.

In the Patriotic War of 2020, Azerbaijan using its legitimate right of self-defense under the UN Charter, defeated Armenia on the battlefield and itself enforced the implementation of 4 UN Security Council resolutions of 1993 that had remained on paper for 27 years.

During the years of occupation, Armenia wiped out 9 Azerbaijani cities and hundreds of villages. The Islamic cultural and historic heritage of our people was destroyed, namely 65 mosques out of 67 were razed to the ground. The remaining two were desecrated being used as stables for keeping cows and pigs.

As a result of the one-day anti-terror operation carried out on 19-20 September this year, Azerbaijan put an end to the illegal separatist regime in Karabakh and subsequently fully restored its sovereignty over its internationally recognized territory. We restored our territorial integrity and sovereignty by use of force and in line with international law and the UN Charter, and feel proud of that.

I am grateful to the ECO Member States that have already congratulated Azerbaijan on our historic victory.

In conclusion, Azerbaijan is determined to further strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the ECO Member States, and we express our readiness to host the next ECO Summit.

Thank you.

x x x

President of the Republic of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who wished the Summit success, said Armenia's fulfillment of its obligations to Azerbaijan would play a special role in ensuring lasting peace in the region. He said: “We see that we are a step closer to lasting peace in our region with the complete elimination of the occupation of Karabakh that has lasted for more than 30 years. It will be easier for Armenia to fulfill its obligations to Azerbaijan. The establishment of transport lines connecting the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan in the near future is also of special strategic importance.”

Other speakers at the Summit included President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov, caretaker Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov.