BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 24. Azerbaijan contributes to peace processes not only in the South Caucasus, but also beyond its borders, MP, Vice-Rector of ADA University, Fariz Ismailzade, said at the conference under the theme "Azerbaijan as a middle power: foreign policy, regional influence and global participation", Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
According to him, the Azerbaijani capital has played the role of a platform for negotiations between a number of countries, and Azerbaijan has acted as a mediator.
"This applies to both the Israeli-Syrian and Turkish-Israeli negotiations. In the past, meetings were also held in Baku between the military leaders of NATO and Russia. All this shows that over the years, Azerbaijan's role as a mediator in the region is becoming stronger. At the same time, Azerbaijan also participates in peacekeeping missions in various countries. The activities of Azerbaijani peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan and Iraq have played an important role.
Azerbaijan also makes great contributions to regional peace and security. In this context, humanitarian aid should also be specially noted. Azerbaijan has sent humanitarian aid to more than 40 countries, and at the same time has participated in various development programs. These initiatives indirectly serve stability and peace, support the fight against extremism and terrorism in those countries, as well as maintaining stability," he explained.
Ismailzade noted that when talking about Azerbaijani diplomacy, the energy sector and transport corridors traditionally come to the fore.
"A lot has been written and talked about Azerbaijan's role in this direction. It should be noted in particular that Azerbaijan is currently one of the main participants in the strategic and critical transport corridor connecting Central Asia and Europe. Without Azerbaijan's transit opportunities and transport corridors, ensuring connections between Europe and Asia would become much more difficult in terms of both land and air transport.
It should be taken into account that conflicts often occur in our region, and for this reason the airspace of some countries is closed at certain times. In such cases, routes passing through Azerbaijan play the role of an important and reliable connection. When talking about security issues, Azerbaijan's contributions to Europe's energy security are usually emphasized. However, today Azerbaijan is already exporting gas to Syria, thereby further expanding the geography of its contribution to energy security," the MP said.
Ismailzade also drew attention to the fact that Azerbaijan has played a leading role in several global international organizations. According to him, Azerbaijan, elected to the UN Security Council in 2011, made great contributions.
"Then, Azerbaijan chaired the Non-Aligned Movement, and it was a very successful chairmanship. Azerbaijan's chairmanship was so successful that even the member states asked Azerbaijan to extend its chairmanship by one year. During its chairmanship of that organization, Azerbaijan put forward new initiatives and new ideas. For example, the establishment of the Youth Movement and the Parliamentary Network. However, although this organization has been operating for more than 30-40 years, it didn't have such important elements. These were created exactly during Azerbaijan's chairmanship.
Later, Azerbaijan hosted the UN COP29 Summit. This was also a very successful international event and made significant contributions to the fight against international climate change. Azerbaijan is one of the countries that played an active role in the formation of some of these organizations and really brought them to the forefront of global politics. I would like to especially mention the Organization of Turkic States (OIC), which is currently one of the leading organizations in the Eurasian region, and even on a global scale. There are other organizations in which Azerbaijan plays a very active role, for example, in the OIC.
I'm citing these examples because Azerbaijan is actively participating both in the creation of new regional organizations and in the formation of informal cooperation formats. For example, there is the Türkiye-Azerbaijan-Pakistan format, which contributes to regional peace and stability," he added.
