BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 28
By Asif Mehman - Trend:
The foreign policy being successfully pursued by Azerbaijan under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev is built on the balance of national and universal interests.
If one looks at the history of Azerbaijan over the past year, it is possible to see how significant and important political and diplomatic success is.
President Aliyev consistently, with great professionalism and taking into account the smallest details, carried out the work that had to be done during the period before the victory in the 44-day Karabakh war.
Azerbaijan became a member of more than 20 international organizations in 2010-2020:
- membership in the Non-Aligned Movement in 2011
- full membership in the Executive Committee of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2012
- Azerbaijan joined the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism in 2012
- Azerbaijan became a member of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in 2012
- non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council in 2012-2013 and chairmanship in the UN Security Council in May 2012
- membership in the WHO Executive Board in 2012-2015
- membership in the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization in 2014-2017 and 2018-2021
- the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 2015
- membership in the International Telecommunication Union in 2015-2018
- membership in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2015-2019
- membership in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2017-2019
- membership in the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2017-2019
- membership in the governing body of the International Labor Organization in 2017-2020
- membership in the Administrative Council of the Universal Postal Union in 2017-2020
- membership in the Board of Directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2018-2020
- chairmanship of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking states in 2019
- full membership in the Group of 77 (G77) in 2019
- member status in the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2019
- chairmanship in the Non-Aligned Movement in 2019-2022
- membership in the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2019-2022
- membership in the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in 2019-2023.
Membership in these organizations, the successful foreign policy being pursued by President Aliyev were the main steps on Azerbaijan's path to the victory gained in the 44-day Karabakh war.
Dozens of important international events have been organized in Azerbaijan over the past 10 years. The support for the initiatives that Azerbaijan has put forward in the organizations in which it is a member is also the result of the authority gained by the country in the international arena.
We present some initiatives that were put forward by Azerbaijan and supported in the international arena:
- A conference of the Ministers of Culture of the Council of Europe member-states was held in Baku on December 2-3, 2008. At the initiative of Azerbaijan, representatives of 10 Islamic countries were also invited to the conference for the first time. Thus, the foundation of a new format was laid at this event. The "Baku Declaration for the Promotion of Intercultural Dialogue" was adopted on the initiative of Azerbaijan.
- The sixth conference of the ministers of culture of Islamic countries was held in Baku on October 13-15, 2009. On the initiative of Azerbaijan, representatives of more than 10 European countries were also invited to it. On the first day of the conference, its participants – member-states of the Council of Europe and member-states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference held a round table entitled "Intercultural Dialogue" and adopted a joint communique.
- President Aliyev made a statement at the 65th session of the UN General Assembly on the holding of the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku in 2010,
- First World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in 2011
- Second World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in 2013
- Third World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in 2015
- "The Year of Multiculturalism" in Azerbaijan and the 7th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in 2016
- Fourth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in 2017:
A high-level meeting of international organizations was held for the first time at the proposal of Azerbaijan.
The establishment of the Global Appeal by First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, together with the First Ladies of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Mali, Rwanda, as well as Director-General of UNESCO, covering the problem of preventing violent extremism through educational opportunities for girls, as well as covering the problems of migrants and refugees, was the second major initiative.
Another important initiative was the holding for the first time of a special session on the topic "The role of parliaments in creating cultural bridges between civilizations" as a new element in the "Baku process"
- Sixth Baku International Humanitarian Forum in 2018
- Fifth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in 2019
- Virtual meeting of the international working group of the "Baku Process" in 2020
- documents adopted by international organizations at the initiative of Azerbaijan
- Official support by 130 countries of the initiative to hold a special session of the UN General Assembly on the fight against coronavirus
- Summit of the Turkic Council on the topic of combating the COVID-19 pandemic
- creation of platforms for joint cooperation (Russia-Iran-Azerbaijan, Turkey-Pakistan-Azerbaijan, etc.).
2010-2020 were also remembered for the success of Azerbaijan achieved on an international scale regarding the Karabakh conflict. Some achieved success and important decisions of those years, taken on an international scale in this context are as follows:
- Resolutions of the European Parliament (dated May 20, 2010, April 18, 2012, November 23, 2013, June 18, 2015, December 13, 2017, December 12, 2018, January 15, 2020), recommendations of the European Parliament (dated November 15, 2017, June 19, 2020)
- final documents of the UN summits (November 20, 2010 - Lisbon, May 20, 2012 - Chicago, September 5, 2014 - Wales, July 9, 2016 - Warsaw, July 11, 2018 - Brussels)
- final acts and communiqués of the Non-Aligned Movement
- the final documents of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, which included the issues on the conflict (September 12, 2012, 4th ministerial meeting in Astana, April 21, 2014, 4th summit in Shanghai, June 15, 2019, 5th summit in Dushanbe)
- documents of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
- report prepared in 2014 by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons
- resolution of the OSCE PA "Commitment to the principles of the Helsinki Final Act in the context of interstate relations in the OSCE region" (2015)
- decision made in 2015 by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of "Chiragov and Others v. Armenia"
- the resolution proposed by Azerbaijan "Prevention of promotion of conflict zones as tourism destinations and using tourism for illegal purposes" at the 100th session of the Executive Committee of the UN World Tourism Organization, held in Croatia’s Rovinj town on May 27-29, 2015
- Statements of the Secretary General of the Turkic Council in connection with Khojaly
- PACE Resolution #2085 (2016)
- document "Priorities for partnership with the EU" (November 15, 2018)
- decision taken at the 129th session of the CoE Committee of Ministers (2019)
- documents adopted by GUAM and the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly
- documents on the Khojaly genocide adopted by 16 countries, Scotland and more than 20 US states
- statements in support of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan at the trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, meetings of foreign ministers in the Azerbaijan-Turkey-Georgia, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Pakistan, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran-Georgia formats, deputy foreign ministers in the Azerbaijan- Turkey - Ukraine format
- Declarations of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States
- Statement by the Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States in connection with the latest missile attacks by Armenia against Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan, conducting an independent policy, chooses allies in foreign policy, in the field of politics, economy, military, humanitarian and other fields, as well as the countries and international organizations with which it cooperates.
The diplomatic missions of Azerbaijan began to operate in more than 30 countries in 2010-2020:
- Azerbaijan’s embassies began to operate in Serbia, Argentina, Libya, Estonia and Croatia in 2010, Azerbaijan’s embassy in South Africa in 2011, Azerbaijan’s representative office in Bosnia and Herzegovina of an embassy in Romania, Azerbaijan’s embassy in Switzerland and Brazil, Azerbaijan’s representative office in Montenegro of an embassy in Romania in 2012, Azerbaijan’s embassies in Australia and Vietnam in 2013, Azerbaijan’s representative office in Colombia of the embassy in Mexico, representative offices in Uruguay and Chile of the embassy in Argentina in 2014, Azerbaijan’s embassy in Ethiopia, diplomatic offices in Slovakia and Peru in 2015, Azerbaijan’s embassies in Algeria and Iraq in 2016, Azerbaijan’s representative offices in Slovakia and Slovenia of the embassy in Austria in 2018.
Azerbaijan’s consulate general opened in Batumi, Azerbaijan’s honorary consulates in Stuttgart (Germany) and the US Santa Fe in 2010, Azerbaijan’s consulate general in Dubai (UAE) in 2012, Azerbaijan’s honorary consulates in Malta and Kharkov (Ukraine) in 2014, honorary consul of Azerbaijan was appointed in the Italian city of Catania in 2015; Azerbaijan’s honorary consulates were opened in Sudan, Djibouti and the Austrian city of St. Pölten in 2017.
During these years, more than 20 diplomatic missions of foreign countries began to operate in Azerbaijan:
- The embassies of Palestine and Indonesia opened in Azerbaijan in 2010, the embassies of Serbia and the UAE in 2011, the embassies of Argentina, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan in 2012, the embassy of Sudan in 2013, the embassies of Colombia, Malaysia, Sweden, Mexico, embassy offices of Croatia, Spain, Estonia in 2014, the diplomatic offices of Algeria and Portugal in 2015, the embassies of Venezuela and Chile, the status of the diplomatic office of Croatia was raised to the level of the embassy in 2018, the Embassy of Slovakia, the office of the embassy of Montenegro opened, the status of the diplomatic office of Algeria was promoted to the level of the embassy in 2019.
Moreover, the Consulate General of Turkey opened in Azerbaijan’s Ganja city in 2010, the Honorary Consulate of Turkey in Azerbaijan’s Lankaran city in 2011, the Honorary Consulate of Portugal opened in Baku in 2012, the Honorary Consulate of Montenegro opened in Baku, the general consulate of Georgia in Ganja in 2013, the honorary consulate of Macedonia opened in Baku in 2014, the honorary consulate of Ethiopia opened in 2017 in Baku, the honorary consulate of the Republic of San Marino in 2018, the honorary consulate of Mongolia, as well as the honorary consulate of Ukraine, opened in Shamakhi in 2020.