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Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 17
Trend:
The Burabay township of Kazakhstan's Akmola region hosted a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on Oct. 16.
The meeting was attended by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. He delivered a speech at a meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State, held in narrow format.
Expressing gratitude to Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev for the high level organization of the event, the Azerbaijani president said the meeting's results will contribute to partnership.
President Ilham Aliyev congratulated President Alexander Lukashenko on successful holding of the presidential election in Belarus. He also congratulated President Almazbek Atambayev on successful holding of the parliamentary election in Kyrgyzstan.
"I'd like to outline two to three topics in my speech," said President Aliyev. "The first one has already been mentioned - the need to search for new forms of economic cooperation. Trade turnover among the CIS countries has decreased, there is, of course, an objective factor, given certain processes ongoing in the world."
President Aliyev noted that many national currencies of the CIS member states have lost their power.
"Since we conduct calculations in US dollars, of course, this is right away reflected in the statistics with a minus sign," President Aliyev said, stressing his support to Russian President Vladimir Putin's idea on transition to calculations in national currencies.
"This will allow us to avoid certain financial risks not related to our activity, and will help strengthen our national currencies, further contributing to economic integration," the president noted.
He also said the search for new forms of cooperation in economic area, and the search for new forms of strengthening the new economic model, especially in countries rich in natural resources, of course, stands on the CIS countries' agenda.
"And I believe it is possible to hold more active consultations, exchange of views and experiences in order to minimize the risks that have arisen," the president added.
"I also must say that among many countries, the countries of CIS - I mean those that have natural resources, oil and gas - demonstrate the best results in resilience to the crisis among many oil and gas producing countries," he said. "Azerbaijan participates actively in transport security, and we also invite all the CIS countries to join the initiatives we have put forward, including the joint initiatives with some CIS member countries."
The president further recalled that in August this year, Azerbaijan received the first container train from China through Kazakhstan, saying this is a good sign that the 'East-West' corridor is starting to acquire a new shape.
"This corridor is of great geopolitical importance, and it will, of course, provide an opportunity for closer integration of the countries located along this way, as well as those closely located to this transport route," he said. "We are actively working on the 'North-South' corridor project, and, first of all, with the Russian Federation and Iran."
"Serious agreements have already been reached, and concrete decisions have been taken to accelerate the connection of our railways," he said, adding, "The project promises huge financial profits."
President Aliyev noted that this highway is the most convenient and the shortest route linking the huge markets of China, India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and Europe.
"I'd also like to inform you about this and invite our partner countries to join the project," he said. "This can be in various forms - participation, investment, issues related to provision of cargos. I believe we can work jointly in this direction. If there is a desire to invest, we would only welcome this. If not, we can work jointly to mobilize the possible new cargos, so that this highway could begin operating fully in the next couple of years."
The president noted that the third topic he'd like to talk about is the strengthening of security measures in the region, about which concerns were sounded in the speeches during the event.
"We all see and observe this well," he said. "No country in the world can feel completely safe without the entire world community's multi-aspect cooperation in the fight against terrorism."
"The CIS countries, at any event, most countries have experienced what international terrorism is, and today this is a threat bearing direct risks to the region's countries and the potential risks to all of us," the president added.
He said, therefore, the fight against international terrorism should be a priority at current stage for all countries, noting that this goal can be achieved only by joining efforts.
"It is, of course, necessary to work to minimize risks, as well as reveal, identify the causes that give rise to international terrorism," said President Aliyev. "There are, of course, huge external causes, the funding of certain groups, the terrorist groups."
He noted that there is also an internal cause.
"The internal causes are poverty, illiteracy, backwardness, radicalism, fundamentalism, and social injustice. If a country hasn't got these objective causes, then it will be very difficult to create there a ground for nurturing terrorism, despite any external efforts," said Azerbaijani president.
He added that therefore, joining efforts to solve the socio-economic issues, the issues of strengthening security and the fight against terrorism are all today a major agenda for the CIS countries.
"We want to live in peace and harmony with the region's countries, we want to develop, and we want children to grow up literate, educated and healthy," said Ilham Aliyev. "For this, we need security."
"Therefore, Azerbaijan will, for its part, further make every effort to fight the international terrorism," he stressed.
"I believe the points sounded here and the speeches by the heads of state are a good ground for us to review this issue from a more practical point of view, to secure our countries in the future," he stressed.