Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev met on Tuesday with ambassadors from member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) accredited in Azerbaijan.
During the meeting, the focus was on expanding relations with brotherly Muslim nations, Azerbaijan’s presidency of the 29th session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), and preparations for the upcoming November meeting, regional post-conflict developments, and prospects for normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and other issues of regional security.
Minister Bayramov emphasized Azerbaijan's deep relations with Muslim countries as a key priority and highlighted the growing conflict in the Middle East, underscoring the need for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on UN Security Council resolutions and the two-state solution principle.
Detailed information was provided on Azerbaijan's COP29 presidency, the key priorities, and areas of focus, including the new collective quantified goal on climate finance, Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, adaptation, and biennial transparency reports (BTRs), nationally determined contributions and presidency’s action plan. According to him, significant progress has been achieved, and the upcoming November 11-22 conference aims to approve around 60 documents on various topics.
Minister Jeyhun Bayramov provided detailed information on the process of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, emphasizing that Azerbaijan is the party making the greatest efforts to advance bilateral peace talks and the overall process. As a result, significant progress has been made in the peace process to date, particularly regarding delimitation issues, with an agreement reached on a specific section of the border and many provisions of the peace treaty agreed upon. In addition, it was noted that detailed discussions on the remaining provisions of the agreement were held in New York and Istanbul.
At the same time, the Foreign Minister noted that Armenia's continued territorial claims against the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, enshrined in its constitution, pose a threat to efforts aimed at building a lasting peace. Bayramov emphasized that Armenia should refrain from steps such as militarization, which could lead to escalation in the region.
Hikmet Hajiyev highlighted the importance of Islamic solidarity, stressing the significance of both bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the countries, including within the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Speaking about Azerbaijan’s preparation for COP29, Hikmet Hajiyev noted that the presidency seeks to create an important platform between the countries of the Global South and the Global North on climate change issues.
He noted that under various unfounded pretexts, there have been attempts to discredit Azerbaijan's large-scale efforts, including the inappropriate inclusion of topics such as the process of normalizing Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, "Azerbaijan - an oil country," and human rights on the COP agenda. He emphasized that such an approach is unacceptable, and Azerbaijan is always ready to discuss these issues on other platforms.
According to him, Azerbaijan remains committed to the peace process with Armenia, but the partial peace agreement proposed by Armenia is unacceptable. The importance of agreeing on the remaining provisions of the peace treaty was emphasized. At the same time, Hajiyev pointed out that Armenia's militarization poses a threat in the region.
The meeting then continued with a question-and-answer session.
