Azerbaijan’s contribution to intercultural dialogue praised
By Sara Rajabova
UN’s high-ranking official has commended Azerbaijan’s contribution to intercultural dialogue and understanding.
Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations made the remark during a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on the sidelines of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly on 30 September, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry reported.
Al-Nasser also expressed his appreciation to Azerbaijan for hosting 7th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in April, 2016.
He stressed the importance of holding this prestigious event in Azerbaijan, which has rich multiculturalism and tolerance traditions and expressed his assurance that Azerbaijan will host this forum as worthily as the other international events.
Mammadyarov noted that Azerbaijan attaches importance to promote intercultural and interreligious dialogue and said as a member of the Alliance of Civilizations Group of Friends, Azerbaijan carried out several successful initiatives for the realization of the Alliance’s goals.
Furthermore, the sides discussed preparatory works for the Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations to be held in Baku in 2016.
The cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union was also discussed on the sidelines of the 70th session of UN General Assembly.
Mammadyarov met with Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations on September 29.
The minister stressed that certain circles in European Parliament pursue the goal of inflicting damage to the relations of Azerbaijan with the European Union by adoption of groundless and absurd resolution on Azerbaijan.
He underlined that this resolution is a sign of biased attitude and unacceptable.
Hahn, for his part, emphasized that European Union is interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan and even willing to expand its collaboration in some fields.
He expressed his hope that for the sake of mutually beneficial cooperation the contacts will be resumed in the near future.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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