BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 3. Jeyhun Bayramov, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, met Monday with Gwi-Yeop Son, United Nations Development Coordination Office’s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia on the sidelines of the latter’s visit to the country, Trend reports, citing the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
During the meeting, the parties exchanged views on the current state and future prospects of Azerbaijan-UN relations, various aspects of cooperation in the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as on further improvement of this cooperation, in alignment with the new realities on the ground and Azerbaijan's national development priorities.
Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, recalling that 2 March 2025 marked the 33rd anniversary of Azerbaijan's accession to the UN, expressed his satisfaction with cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN agencies that has been carried out effectively and constructively over the past 33 years.
It was emphasized that the first years of Azerbaijan’s independence have been accompanied by serious economic and social challenges related to the occupation of its territories and the plight of 1 million refugees and IDPs, when representation of a number of UN agencies on the ground has been instrumental in institutional development and capacity building in Azerbaijan.
At the same time, it was especially noted that the liberation of Azerbaijan’s territories from the occupation and the socio-economic progress achieved by the Republic of Azerbaijan in recent years has enabled the country to rely on its own resources and capacity in the implementation of social projects, as well as to carry out several donor support to many countries through a number of UN agencies.
In this regard, it was emphasized that the Republic of Azerbaijan revised its cooperation priorities with the UN in accordance with emerging realities on the ground and utilizing UN resources more efficiently. To that end, the FM brought to the attention of the counterpart that, the existing cooperation modalities with some UN institutions will be transformed to project-based cooperation mechanism based on national priorities.
Against the backdrop of the transformation of Azerbaijan from a state receiving assistance to a country contributing to the global agenda, it was emphasized that in accordance with the demands of the time, cooperation with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the UN Environment Programme, the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other relevant UN agencies is a priority, and further cooperation with some other UN agencies will continue on the basis of this model, working directly with their headquarters.
Gwi-Yeop Son congratulated Azerbaijan on the successful organization of COP29 and the historical outcomes achieved, noting that the cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN system in this regard is commendable.
Gwi-Yeop Son expressed appreciation for the strong cooperation and partnership with the Government to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Azerbaijan. She noted that the United Nations is ready to continue partnership and cooperation with the Government of Azerbaijan to support the national development priorities and the SDGs.
