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Abbas Ganbay

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"The problems of the South Caucasus should first of all be solved by the countries of the region themselves," representative of the President of Azerbaijan for Special Assignments Elchin Amirbayov stated today in a live broadcast on BBC Radio, Azernews reports.

The official explained that the idea to establish a consultative regional platform called "3+3" was put forward by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev immediately after the end of the 44-day war. The aim of this initiative is to tap into the existing serious potential for active regional cooperation and practical interaction between the three South Caucasus states and their closest neighbors Turkiye, Russia, and Iran, in such promising areas as trade, transport communications, energy security, culture, science, etc.

"The participants of the format during their second meeting in Tehran on October 23 agreed that the countries of the region should play a leading role in solving regional issues and intend, in this sense, to strengthen their sense of ownership and involvement in shaping the future of this strategically important region. In this sense, it is natural for countries to oppose harmful external interference in the affairs of the region by extra-regional actors.

At the same time, the latter, often based on their self-serving domestic political considerations and interests, try to impose their own dissected recipes on the countries of the South Caucasus, which, unfortunately, only exacerbate tensions in the region and thus undermine the prospects for achieving long-term peace there.

As for Azerbaijan, this phenomenon is most clearly observed in the example of France, which abuses its leading role in such international institutions as the UN Security Council, the European Union, the European Parliament, and even the International Organization of La Francophonie," E. Amirbayov said.

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