18 October 2024 16:12

On 18 October 2024, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, participated and delivered a speech at the meeting of the “3+3” regional consultative format within the framework of his working visit to the city of Istanbul, Republic of Türkiye.

In the speech, the vision of our country aimed at turning existing challenges in the fields of security, economy, trade, energy, transport-communications, environmental protection, natural and man-made disasters and other directions into regional cooperation opportunities, including its position on the regional peace and normalization process in the post-conflict period, was discussed in detail.

Minister Jeyhun Bayramov thanked the brotherly Republic of Türkiye for hosting the meeting of the “3+3” format and stressed that our country attaches special importance to regional cooperation and consultations within the framework of such formats in combating existing challenges.

It was emphasized that regional activity and dialogue are even more important against the background of the increasing attempts of external forces to project geopolitical escalation and dividing lines into our region by engaging in their dangerous agendas, including contradictory militarization, in the region.

In the current circumstances, the importance of the states of the region taking ownership of our region on the basis of the principles of international law, especially sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and non-interference in internal affairs, seeking solutions to the problems of our region precisely within the regional framework, and accepting our regional security as an indivisible concept was noted.

It was stated that since the restoration of our country’s independence, it has engaged in mutually beneficial cooperation with the states of the region, taking into account mutual respect, balance of interests and legitimate security concerns, and as a result, a number of regional, including globally important projects, such as Baku–Tbilisi–Kars and the North–South Corridor, have been implemented. Confidence was expressed that our joint projects will also cover the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, especially that communications connecting the East Zangezur economic region of Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of Iran will be completed soon.

Against the background of new opportunities opened for regional cooperation with the conclusion of the former conflict and the restoration of our country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, Azerbaijan’s determination to continue and advance the process of building lasting peace with Armenia was once again reaffirmed.

The importance of removing the obstacles standing in the way of the peace process, especially the necessary constitutional amendments guaranteeing that Armenia’s aggression and occupation will not be repeated again and that peace will not depend on the internal political and legal situation, was emphasized. It was noted that Armenia’s propaganda of a “half-baked peace”, which postpones building lasting peace by ignoring existing problems, raises the question of the existence of a “hidden agenda”.