UN Ready To Expand Presence In Azerbaijan, Support Regional Peace Efforts Resident Coordinator

(MENAFN- AzerNews) Akbar Novruz Read more

The United Nations is seeking to expand its presence in Azerbaijan and strengthen strategic cooperation with the government, while remaining ready to support regional peace efforts and post-conflict recovery initiatives.

Speaking to AzerNEWS on the sidelines of a concert held at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall to mark the 81st anniversary of the United Nations, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Dmitry Shlapachenko outlined the organisation's priorities, including sustainable development, regional cooperation and Azerbaijan's growing contribution to international climate diplomacy.

The event, supported by Switzerland, brought together senior government officials, diplomats and representatives of international organisations to commemorate UN Day.

Reflecting on the significance of the occasion and the prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United Nations, Shlapachenko emphasised the importance of multilateral engagement.

“So first of all, for us it's a great honour to celebrate the United Nations Day here in the State Philharmonic. We see that a lot of people from the government, from the international community are coming and for us it's important because the United Nations remains the only legitimate big organisation that unites everybody around the globe.

“So for us it's an honour to celebrate it. We are very pleased that it takes place today, but it's just the beginning. We will have events, we will have a roundtable tomorrow at the other university.

“We will have strategic discussions with the government in Karabakh University, in Karabakh and then we will have SDG dialogue the next week. So the perspective looks like we are looking for strategic opportunities with the government and I'm positive that this perspective will be very good. We are looking forward to extend actually the presence of the UN here and with that I welcome you of course to our concert.”

Addressing AzerNEWS ' question about the United Nations' potential role in supporting the Azerbaijan–Armenia peace process, particularly in translating diplomatic progress into tangible benefits for communities through post-conflict reconstruction and demining operations, the Resident Coordinator stressed that any UN involvement would depend on the decisions of the two governments.

“We will be guided by the government of Azerbaijan in this case because it's negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and therefore we stand ready to support the government of Azerbaijan in our case. We are in touch with our counterparts, UN counterparts in Armenia, but it's the two governments that need to decide the role of the United Nations. From our side, we will be ready to support.”

Shlapachenko also highlighted Azerbaijan's contributions to international multilateral initiatives, particularly following its hosting of COP29 in Baku.

Responding to a question from AzerNEWS about Azerbaijan's growing role in the UN's global agenda and its expected contribution to the upcoming COP31 climate conference in Türkiye, he praised the country's engagement in major international events and its continued cooperation with the global climate community.

“Look, Azerbaijan did a huge amount of things for multilateral relations in general. Whether, it's COP29, it's WUF13, there are many events which are under the banner of the United Nations, so we consider this very important. Azerbaijan, as you know, hosted the Climate Week this year and we think that this was a very good platform before COP31 in Antalya.

“I know that there are very close cooperation between the champions, climate champions from Azerbaijan with COP31. Azerbaijan will have its own pavilion, Azerbaijan delegation as always will be playing a very active role. We from the United Nations side of course support this because it basically brings the right quality to the discussion and we hope that of course Antalya will bring some tangible results.”

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