Azerbaijan continued its policy based on national interests in 2021

By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has said that in 2021 Azerbaijan continued its policy based on the country's national interests.

He made the remarks at a press conference dedicated to the results of the year.

“Our foreign policy was aimed at protecting and representing the interests of the Azerbaijani state and people,” he added.

Speaking about the implementation of the trilateral statement on Karabakh signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders in 2020, Bayramov noted that the Foreign Ministry held relevant events and meetings within the framework of the established platforms to ensure regional peace and security in 2021.

“The agenda includes issues of unblocking communications, delimitation and demarcation of borders, as well as issues of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and starting the development of a document on the basis of which the peace will be built. In addition, the priority task is to restore the liberated territories of Azerbaijan. In this process, we are facing challenges and threats, in particular, due to a large number of mines,” he said.

Azerbaijan is ready to start the process of delimitation and demarcation of the borders, he said, adding that there is no exact date as it is a mutual procedure.

“The Azerbaijani side has stated its position and is ready to start this process. We hope that Armenia will understand that this process is inevitable, complies with international norms and principles, and that there is no alternative to demarcating the border between the states. We think that a positive message will come from Armenia in the near future. On the other hand, the fact that this issue is already included in the trilateral Sochi statement means that the Armenian side accepts it too,” Bayramov said.

The minister also noted that in 2021, Azerbaijan continued to file lawsuits against Armenia at the international level, a number of which were satisfied.

He added that Azerbaijan will apply to international courts on a number of conventions shortly. Specifically, conventions on the damage caused to the ecology of the territories liberated from Armenian occupation, as well as on the illegal use of energy resources and natural resources.

"The main priority of foreign policy is the development of relations both in bilateral and multilateral formats and in the context of the new realities that have arisen after the 44-day Patriotic War," he finalized. 

On December 14 in Brussels, Azerbaijan and Armenia came to an agreement on the establishment of a temporary working group on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border.