The Minister pointed out the necessity to stop the growing tendency towards Islamophobia in the world, adding that as Chairman of the Ministerial Council of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Azerbaijan considers it very important to increase public awareness of Islam worldwide including in the Muslim societies.

“To this end, we plan to host in Baku in 2007 under the OIC an international conference on the role of mass media in developing tolerance and mutual understanding,” he said.

Elmar Mammadyarov stated while condemning all forms of terrorism Azerbaijan is seriously concerned over attempts to associate terrorism with Islam and Muslim nations.

Touching upon the situation concerning the massive fires in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan as a subject of urgent consideration by the General Assembly, the Foreign Minister said the resolution it had adopted is aiming to assess the short- and long-term impact of the fire on the environment, involve conflicting parties, Azerbaijan and Armenia parties, in joint environmental operation, and thus, promoting establishment of atmosphere of trust between them, to give an impetus to the peace process.

“Sadly, this is the only positive development so far,” he however, added.

Minister Mammadyarov noted “although no substantial progress has been witnessed so far, the parties accepted the stage-by-stage approach in the settlement.” “Basically, there are two main issues on which parties disagree - definition of status of self-rule for the population of the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region and withdrawal of the Armenian forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” he said.

Describing Azerbaijan’s position on the issue the Minister said the status can be defined only through democratic and legal process with direct involvement of both Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Our position based on relevant resolutions of the Security Council and OSCE decisions, which unequivocally demand unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” he said.

“It is difficult to hope for breakthrough in the negotiations when Armenia rejects face-to-face meetings and refuses to take a constructive approach to solve existing problems, the Minister said.”

From the UN rostrum, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan also spoke of the economic progress achieved in the country for the past years. He described creation of “favorable environment to attract investments into the non-oil sector and diversify the export potential of the country” as key challenge of its Government.

“The year 2006 has marked a historic event for the region and beyond, which is the official inauguration of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main oil export pipeline. Currently, we are looking forward to completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline this fall and remain commitment to contribute to global energy security,” he said.