Baku, October 26, AZERTAC

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs of the United Nations Rosemary DiCarlo.

Welcoming Rosemary DiCarlo, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Thank you for participating in the Summit. Thank you for your speech. It is highly important that the UN is represented here at a high level. We have taken over chairmanship of the organization and in the next three years will do our best to remain committed to the fundamental principles of the Non-Aligned Movement. Of course, it is a great responsibility and at the same time an honor for us. We are a relatively new member country – we have only been a member of the Movement for eight years, and currently see the support of all members. As you know, our candidacy for the chairmanship was approved unanimously. It was a demonstration of the support of two-thirds of the international community. Of course, our policy, the steps we are taking, our view on the commitment to uphold international law and justice, and the implementation of decisions and resolutions of leading international organizations have played an important role in the adoption of this decision.

As you know, there are certain problems between some member-countries. Some of them have a long history, some have arisen only recently. Despite this, in terms of the attitude towards Azerbaijan, even the countries that do not have very good bilateral relations with Azerbaijan support us. I believe that we were able to obtain such unanimous support by pursuing an open and sincere policy, in which our words coincide with our deeds. Of course, in the coming years we will work together with you to resolve issues on the global agenda. Thank you again for attending the Summit.

Rosemary DiCarlo said:

- Thank you very much. Thank you for receiving me today. I am grateful for the opportunity you created for us to visit your beautiful country. I came to Azerbaijan 29 years ago. I have to say that your country has changed a lot. I thank you and congratulate you not only for taking over the chairmanship, but also for hosting many international events here in Baku. We are aware of many of the initiatives you have recently put forward, and they are very important for us. They are important because you are a very strong supporter of multilateralism. You are working with the international community and the UN on some initiatives in this direction.

President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Thank you for your words. We appreciate the support Secretary General Guterres has provided for our multiculturalism initiative. The “Baku process” has become a global platform for intercultural dialogue. We appreciate the UN support for this initiative. I remember that there were no particular hopes for the success of this process when we were starting it. This was at the end of 2008. So I thought – why not try? After all, Azerbaijan is one of a handful of member-countries of both the Council of Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Why not take this opportunity? Especially since we have always had the spirit of multiculturalism – not only during the years of independence but also as part of all political and social manifestations, even as a part of other countries. Baku was a city where representatives of various religions and ethnic groups lived in peace. Azerbaijan was such a country, and this came in handy. Today we see strong support from the UN. I thank you for the high assessment of our efforts related to transparency. A few years ago, our sovereign fund, called the Oil Fund, received a UN award. At present, the work of ASAN, a public services system which is expanding its activities to other countries, has also received special UN recognition. We appreciate this. All our work is aimed at strengthening the country, creating more favorable conditions for people and deepening international cooperation. This also includes transport and energy projects. They bring us together and create relationships between countries. This means power and stability.