Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attends the official opening ceremony of the 3rd Global Shared Societies Forum kicked off in Baku on April 28.

The event is being attended by presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, former heads of several countries, and representatives from 72 countries.

Addressing the ceremony, President Aliyev welcomed all the guests of the Baku Forum and noted the importance of the event.

He said the event provides a great opportunity for former presidents, prime ministers, politicians and statesmen to address important issues.

"It is a unique opportunity to have so many state representatives present to discuss what we will face as a global community in the coming years - the ways to tackle those challenges we face and how to reduce the tensions we see all over the world," he said.

President Aliyev further spoke about the long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, reminding the audience that almost 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory remains under Armenian occupation.

He said no country in the world recognizes the illegal Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We're suffering from brutal violation of international law. The occupation of internationally recognized and historic territories of Azerbaijan by Armenia continue for many years, regardless the four UN Security Council Resolutions, which require immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories," President Aliyev said.

President Aliyev noted that Nagorno-Karabakh is a historic, integral part of Azerbaijan and no country in the world recognizes the illegal Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent entity.

Back in 1992, following a violent and bloody conflict, Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts plunging the South Caucasus region into a protracted conflict.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has yet to comply with UN Security Council resolutions calling for the liberation of all occupied territories.

Furthermore, speaking about Azerbaijan’s role in ensuring European energy security, President Aliyev said for Europe, Azerbaijan is the only new source of natural gas.

"For 20 years, we're implementing an oil strategy that created an absolutely new energy map in the region. We've connected the Caspian Sea and Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea by a multiple oil pipeline systems. Today oil from the Caspian Sea, not only from Azerbaijan, but also from the Eastern shores of the Caspian, is being directed to international markets," he said.

President Aliyev went on to speak about the biggest infrastructure project of Europe, where Azerbaijani again has shown initiative and took the lead.

"The Southern Gas Corridor consists of segments - the development of one of the biggest gas fields in the world Shah Deniz, construction of the new pipeline system to connect Azerbaijan and Georgia, South Caucasian pipeline, Trans-Anatolian pipeline, and Trans Adriatic pipeline, which will be constructed from the Turkish border, through Albania to Italy," President Aliyev said.

The president noted that the mentioned projects are difficult from a technical point of view, and they require broad coordination and cooperation.

President Aliyev reminded that the mentioned projects are not the only part of Azerbaijan's cooperation with Europe.

"We understand that for Europe energy diversification is really the issue of national security and we should treat this issue as that. Energy security cannot be separated from national security," he said.

Another important issue, as the president said, is the diversification of sources.

"Diversification of roots is also important, but when the source is the same, it doesn't make sense. I am not trying to say that other sources are not important, not trying to compete with anyone, but other sources are already in action," President Aliyev said.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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