On 22 October 2024, Jeyhun Bayramov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, together with Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan had a meeting with Ambassadors of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member States accredited in Azerbaijan.

Throughout the meeting, significance of further expansion of our country's relations with brotherly and friendly Muslim countries, Azerbaijan’s presidency to the 29th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), preparation for the event to be held in November, post-conflict situation in the region, prospects of Azerbaijan – Armenia normalization process, as well as other regional security issues were discussed.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov emphasized that close relations of with brotherly Muslim countries are one of the top priorities for our country. The inadmissibility of escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, the importance of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions, and the “two state solution” principle were underlined.

Azerbaijan’s COP29 presidency, key views, priorities, directions, in particular, new collective quantified goal (NCQG), Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, Adaptation, Mitigation, biennial transparency reports (BTR), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), as well as the Presidency Action Agenda were all covered in detail.

It was noted that significant progress that has been made in the negotiation process in the aforementioned directions is promising. It was mentioned that, about 60 documents on a range of relevant topics are expected to be adopted during the Session to be held on 11-22 November. Support from friendly and brotherly countries attending the meeting was appreciated in this regard.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov provided comprehensive information regarding the Azerbaijan-Armenia normalization process, and noted that Azerbaijan is the party that is working most actively to advance the bilateral peace talks and the process.

Consequently, it was mentioned that the peace process has made significant progress so far. In particular, an agreement on delimitation issues has been achieved on certain section of the border, and various elements of the peace agreement have been agreed upon. Simultaneously, it was mentioned that comprehensive discussions on the remaining elements of the agreement were held in Istanbul and New York.

Nevertheless, it was pointed out that the ongoing of claims against the territorial integrity of our country enshrined in the Constitution of Armenia threaten efforts towards sustainable peace-building.

Furthermore, it was mentioned that Armenia must avoid steps like militarization that might lead escalation in the region.

Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, highlighted importance of Islamic solidarity and emphasized multilateral cooperation among our countries in various platforms, including the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Speaking about preparations for COP29, Hikmet Hajiyev stated that our presidency seeks to establish a significant climate change platform between the "Global North" and the "Global South."

Attempts to undermine significant amount of work of Azerbaijan with various unfounded issues, as well as to include Azerbaijan-Armenia normalization process, matters such as “Azerbaijan is an oil country”, pretexts in the field of human rights in the COP agenda in an unacceptable way were mentioned. It was underlined that this approach is unacceptable and that our country is always prepared to talk about such matters on other platforms.

It was underlined that Azerbaijan is committed to the peace process with Armenia, however the Armenian-proposed “partial peace” is unacceptable. It was pointed out that reaching an agreement on the remaining elements of the peace treaty is crucial. It was also highlighted that militarization of Armenia is a source of threat in the region.

Following then, the meeting continued with a question-and-answer session.