BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct.29
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan has been a very responsible member of the UN, President of the United Nations General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“Azerbaijan has made contribution to the UN work in several ways. First of all Azerbaijan has been a very responsible member of the UN, which is very important. The UN agencies has been very well hosted in Azerbaijan,” he said.
Muhammad-Bande highlighted Azerbaijan’s contribution to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“The more countries reform and help peace, the more they have development, the more positive contribution they make to the UN. Azerbaijan has made tremendous progress. It is focused on SDGs. Any progress of any country is a contribution to the progress of all of us. Despite being in the conflict, Azerbaijan is talking of peaceful resolution and that is also a part of what we consider a progress for the world,” he noted.
In this regard, Muhammad-Bande said that the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is one of the many conflicts in the world that the UN is very keen to help resolve, because it has implications not only for the two countries, but the region and for the world.
“The UN is very keen to help for speedy and just resolution of such conflicts without having any further violence, because violence is what we should avoid. The organization is ready to support to move this process, which is very important. The leaders of the two countries have begun talks and this process should continue,” said the UNGA president.
Talking about the 18th Summit of the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) held on Oct.25-26 in Baku, he said that it is important in the context that the world needs more operation, more collaboration to address challenges that can only be addressed collectively.
“NAM arose out of the context to ensure that we will not go to any extreme. The most important thing in NAM, the chairmanship of which was taken by Azerbaijan, is that it brings together 120 countries, who are also UN members. That is the largest body of countries after the UN, that come together from all parts of the world. We must focus on what is the world peace and in this peace, the rule of law is important. The idea that big and small countries will be given a voice is important. The UN, as you know, is the largest intergovernmental body in the world with 193 countries. It is also aimed at bringing peace to the world. And NAM needs to ensure that there is no left or right, we should find ways to collaborate together. The formation of this idea was signified at NAM summit in Baku,” he said.
As for the conflicts among UN members, Muhammad-Bande noted that first of all, there are some countries, which some members may accuse them of violating human rights and there are also some issues concerning territories in land or sea.
“For each of those cases, there are mechanisms in the UN to resolve these disputes. The UN, as a body, tries to resolve conflicts without violence. There are many reasons why countries disagree. But conflicts are solved, it is part of life. What is important, it to find out whether there are mechanisms to resolve them and whether there is a way to ensure that there is less of such conflicts. That is why in 2015 all countries of UN agreed to have a world in which we have common aspirations. We have 17 goals, known as Sustainable Development Goals. The best way to guarantee peace, security is the development in the world. That’s why SDGs are so vitally important for the world. All countries have committed to achieving SDGs by 2030,” said the UNGA president.
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