BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 12. Azerbaijan and Armenia are currently working on the parameters of a future peace agenda, said Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration, Trend reports.
Speaking at the panel discussion titled “Crisis of Multilateralism: Rethinking Global Cooperation” within the framework of the 13th Global Baku Forum, Hajiyev stated that at the regional level, Azerbaijan is also actively engaged within the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and contributes to the institutional development of the organization.
“Recently, Azerbaijan also joined the Developing Eight (D8) Organization for Economic Cooperation, and we support the further institutionalization of this organization and the strengthening of its functionality,” he said.
According to Hajiyev, it is sometimes evident that institutions within the United Nations system compete with each other rather than cooperate.
“Instead of using limited resources efficiently, competition arises among these institutions. In such circumstances, when some multilateral institutions prove insufficiently flexible, countries like Azerbaijan turn to the concept of middle powers. What does the concept of a middle power and multilateralism mean for us? It means that instead of simply waiting for multilateral institutions to make decisions, we take the initiative and bring together like-minded countries around certain issues in order to bring about real change. Two concepts stand out here: a ‘coalition of the willing’ and ‘variable geometry.’ In this approach, geography is not particularly decisive. For example, Azerbaijan, Australia, and Türkiye can cooperate on specific issues,” he said.
Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijan is currently cooperating within the climate agenda of COP and discussing how it can contribute more effectively to the agenda of the next COP. Azerbaijan is also cooperating with Ethiopia in the field of climate diplomacy.
“This demonstrates that flexible diplomacy and variable geometry play an important role. When like-minded countries come together, they can contribute to shaping the region. This approach is also applicable to the peace and security agenda in our region,” he said.
Hajiyev also recalled that Azerbaijan did not wait for multilateral institutions to resolve its challenges.
“As our President has noted, we did not wait for multilateral institutions to come and solve our problems. In the early years of our independence, we entrusted certain responsibilities to international institutions, including the Organization for Security and Co‑operation in Europe. However, we must admit that the OSCE also became one of the unsuccessful projects in terms of peace and security in the Euro-Atlantic space. In particular, the OSCE Minsk Group turned into a complete diplomatic failure in our case,” he said.
Despite this, Hajiyev stressed that Azerbaijan presented a unique model for ensuring peace and security.
“We resolved a long-standing conflict through military and political means,” he noted.
According to him, there is now real peace in the region, and both Armenia and Azerbaijan are working on the parameters of a future peace agenda. Hajiyev added that energy security in the region also represents a successful example of multilateral diplomacy.
“Along the route stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Adriatic Sea, many countries came together and implemented projects that benefit everyone,” he said.
Another example, he noted, is cooperation between Central Asia and Azerbaijan. Last year, Azerbaijan was accepted as a full member of the Central Asia Consultative Forum.
“This shows that countries of similar size and with similar views can come together and contribute to shaping both regional and global agendas,” Hajiyev added.
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