Statement by Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, at the First Session of the Arab Cooperation and Economic Forum with Central Asia and the Republic of Azerbaijan

Ar Riyadh, May 13, 2014

Your Royal Highness,

Dear Mr. Chairman,

Dear Colleagues,

At the outset, I would like to extend our profound appreciation to the leadership and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the initiative to establish “League of Arab States -Central Asia- the Republic of Azerbaijan Cooperation and Economic Forum” and excellent arrangement of the Forum’s inauguration meeting and for the warm hospitality extended to me and my delegation.

I also wish to convey our thanks to the Secretary General of Arab League Dr. Nabil Al-Arabi, and General Secretariat for their continuous efforts towards realization of this initiative.

Mr. Chairman,

Being closely linked with the Arab States through historical, religious and cultural bonds, the Republic of Azerbaijan has always paid particular importance to developing relations with each Member State of the Arab League, supported by strong political, economic and commercial pillars. Friendly ties Azerbaijan enjoys with the Arab States have also paved way for long-term and meaningful cooperation under the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the League of Arab States and Gulf Cooperation Council.

It is therefore logical that Azerbaijan, since its inception, has hailed the initiative of Arab League-Central Asia-Azerbaijan Cooperation Forum and actively participated in its advancement. It is our firm belief that this mechanism will be instrumental in furthering our political, economic and humanitarian cooperation to a qualitatively new level and fostering greater mutual understanding, respect and support.

Mr. Chairman,

Azerbaijan has always been in solidarity with the Islamic Ummah in sharing of its problems and grievances. Our support was particularly evident and helpful during Azerbaijan’s membership to the United Nations Security Council in 2012-2013. As I mentioned in my letter to the Arab League Secretary General Dr. Nabil Al-Araby, Azerbaijan at the UN SC has been faithful to the just cause of Islamic Ummah and demonstrated an active position when Palestine, Syrian crisis, Sudan, Iraq and Yemen issues were subject of series discussions at the UN SC. Furthermore, at the initiative of Azerbaijan on October 28th 2013 under our Presidency the first ever special meeting of the United Nations Security Council and Organization of Islamic Cooperation on the topic "Strengthening partnership synergy between the UN and OIC" have been convened. As an outcome of this historical meeting it was also agreed to convene such a meeting biannually under the presidency of any OIC Member State who has the seat at the UN SC as a non-permanent member.

With this view in mind, we reiterate our support to the brotherly people of Palestine and their efforts to achieve peace, stability and establishment of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state. We are pleased to witness some positive developments and encouraging improvements such as the admission of the State of Palestine to UNESCO and the decision of the United Nations General Assembly to accord to Palestine non-member observer State status in the UN.

Azerbaijan is also deeply concerned over the escalating violence in Syria that claimed so many innocent lives and endangers regional and international security. We support the efforts of the UN and the League of Arab States to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis.

To our deepest regret, we continue to face persistence of such challenges as defamation of religions, incitement to religious hatred and Islamophobia. This Forum can also be helpful to fostering dialogue among civilizations and preventing prejudices and stereotypes.

Mr. Chairman,

As you are well aware, Armenia continues to use force to sustain military occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan and to prevent one million Azerbaijani refugees and IDP’s from returning to their homes. No single Azerbaijani historic and cultural monument was left undamaged and no mosque and other sacred site escaped desecration both in the occupied territories, as well as in Armenia itself.

It is a matter of yet another serious concern that Armenia expands settlement of Syrian Armenians into the occupied territories of Azerbaijan to change the demography on the ground and consolidate its occupation. Such activity is illegal under international law and must be stopped immediately.

We reiterate our sincere gratitude to the Islamic Ummah for long standing position in condemnation of the Armenian aggression and occupation of 20% of Azerbaijan’s territories with notorious ethnic cleansing on the seized lands. We are particularly grateful to Islamic Ummah for the unanimous call for immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from all our occupied territories, as it is demanded by the relevant resolutions and decisions of the UN Security Council, OIC and other international organizations. We believe that this position with regards to Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict will also be reflected in the attitude of all brotherly Arab League Member States.

Mr. Chairman,

The Forum can also provide a lever to step up the economic ties and consolidate the economic foundation of our relationship. Deepened investment and trade relations will contribute to broader economic engagement delivering mutual economic benefits. Active employment of public-private partnership models is also needed both from resource both mobilization and policy support standpoint.

While preparing cooperation agenda, we should be practical and pursue step-by-step approach targeting specific areas of common interest be it bilateral or broader format. In this vein, we would like to share our views on suggested Plan of Action:

1.Trade and investment promotion measures: organization of visits of trade missions, chamber of commerce and exhibitions on a regular basis; encourage use of business portals. In this respect, we welcome the results of the joint meeting of the chambers of commerce held in Riyadh, on 29 April 2014.

2. Cooperation in the transport sector: transit and economic integration potential of our regions largely remains untapped. Once finalized the railway link Baku-Tbilisi-Kars connecting Azerbaijan-Georgia-Türkiye will further diversify routes within the regional transport corridor and can facilitate flow of goods from China to Arab States. In the view that Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway network can also be potentially connected with the prospective GCC railroad system.
3. We all know that the best investments are the investments into the education. Azerbaijan stands ready to extend its full support to set up special academic exchange programs to put further impetus to educational cooperation.
4. Learning experiences and innovation applied in development of industry and fuel-energy sectors is also of great interest to us.
5. Some Arab League Member States are either traditional or emerging popular tourism destination. We are very keen in exchanging of experiences on how to develop tourism economies and become destination driver as business, cultural and entertainment spots.
6.Cooperation among media with a view to facilitating information, news exchange and public relations overall.

We look forward to further discussions on the areas of involvement as well as structures and modalities of working mechanism of the Forum.

Dear Mr Chairman,

In conclusion, I would like to express my sincere belief that this Forum will strengthen our solidarity and collaboration to the benefit of our people and will open up new opportunities for closer cooperation among our countries.

Thank you.