Azerbaijani FM, Afghan president mull Karabakh's rehabilitation, ties
By Vafa Ismayilova
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani have discussed the post-war rehabilitation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and bilateral ties, the Foreign Ministry has reported on its website.
The two officials met within the framework of the 9th ministerial conference “Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process” held in Dushanbe on March 30, the report added.
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani congratulated the Azerbaijani president and nation on the great victory in the 44-day war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and described it as a triumph of international law.
The Afghan president stated that he is aware of the scale of destructions on Azerbaijan's liberated territories and expressed deep regret for it.
In turn, Minister Bayramov thanked Ghani and conveyed President Ilham Aliyev's cordial greetings.
Speaking about the reconstruction and restoration work carried out on Azerbaijan's liberated territories, he said those territories will be brought back to life in the near future.
The sides noted with satisfaction the development of Azerbaijani-Afghan bilateral relations. They also focused on the launch of the ASAN service in Afghanistan and its intention to cover a wider area in the future, as well as the continuation of training for young Afghan diplomats at ADA University, and the importance of the Lapis-Lazuli international transport corridor, the ministry said.
Earlier in his speech at the conference, Bayramov said that the Lapis-Lazuli route agreement between Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Turkmenistan is an agreement on a major international trade and transport corridor that directly connects Afghanistan with Europe.
"This is an important milestone in efforts to coordinate by building and improving infrastructure to expand Afghan trade across Eurasia. Azerbaijan is satisfied with its contribution as a party to the agreement in providing Afghanistan with a multilateral choice in transit and transport," he added.
The minister noted that these projects will facilitate Afghanistan's entry into global markets and ensure the coordination of faster and more efficient management of cargo and container transport in the region.
The "Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process" is a regional initiative of Afghanistan and Turkey, launched in 2011. This format is a platform for political dialogue and regional cooperation to promote stability, peace and prosperity in Afghanistan and the region as a whole. The participants in the Istanbul Process are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the UAE.
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