By Trend

Ensuring international security in a rapidly changing world, in conditions where there is an increase in terrorism, external threats and conflicts, is the most important task, which regional states and international organizations including the UN Security Council, are making efforts to complete, said Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov at the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku, Trend reports.

He noted that unresolved long-lasting conflicts remain the main challenges that hinder the preservation of stability and security in the region.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is still the main threat to regional security in the South Caucasus as a result of the occupational policy of Armenia towards Azerbaijani lands, despite the resolutions of the UN Security Council calling for the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijani territories. Meanwhile, while keeping foreign territories under occupation, Armenia did not achieve anything domestically. Today, it remains a country with a high rate of migration, poverty, unemployment, and, as a result, with a weak economy and a low social standards of living," said the minister.

Mammadyarov noted that nothing can be said about Armenia's capacity to approach to any indicators of sustainable development.

"The situation there is such that people in Armenia itself do not believe in the country’s future, which explains the rapidly growing outflow of the population from the country. Moreover, they cannot make at least one argument about what Armenia has achieved by imposing the Karabakh conflict on Azerbaijan and the region," he said.

According to the minister, people in Armenia, to a certain extent, hope for and count on the support of the Armenian diaspora. However, Armenia will not be able to ensure the sustainable development of the country and somehow come closer to the indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals only with funds from this diaspora.

"We are in favor of the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and we believe that it should be resolved in accordance with the principles and laws of international law, subject to the inviolability of our borders and the restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," the minister said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.