Meeting of FMs of Non-Aligned Movement member countries gets underway in Baku

A meeting of the foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member countries has kicked off in Baku.

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza handed over the chairmanship in the organization to Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that during its presidency in the organization Azerbaijan will take necessary steps to develop the organization and strengthen ties among the member countries. FM Mammadyarov highlighted the NAM’s significant contributions to international peace.

The Minister stated that Azerbaijan has been a member of the Non-Aligned Movement since 2011.

“Azerbaijan pursues an independent foreign policy and is not a party to any military alliance. At the same time, we are a rapidly developing country that puts a special emphasis on sustainable development, democratization, fostering the respect for human rights and social justice.

One of the priority areas that we will pay utmost attention during our chairmanship is youth empowerment. Successful youth policies play an important role in ensuring sustainable development of the society. Outcome documents of NAM Summit and Ministerial meetings which will be adopted, addressed various aspects of youth policies such as increasing youth participation in public administration, addressing their social, education and employment problems, as well as more active engagement of youth in achieving the goals and targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. As a practical measure towards implementation of the objectives set out in those documents, Azerbaijan has come up with the initiative to organize the first ever NAM Youth Summit in Baku,” FM Mammadyarov said.

On the Armenia Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Minister Mammadyarov said: “Regretfully the continued occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia continues to represent serious threat to regional and international security and undermines the efforts of my country to utilize its full potential for sustainable development.

The conflict with Armenia has resulted in the occupation of one fifth of the territory of Azerbaijan and has made around 1 million internally displaced and refugee. Since the very first day of the conflict, combat operations have been conducted exclusively inside the territory of Azerbaijan, almost in the middle of the country, affecting its civilian population and infrastructure.

I wish to express the warmest gratitude to all Member States of NAM for their continued support to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders.”

AZERTAG