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Elnur Enveroglu

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Organised by the Nizami Ganjavi International Centre under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, the 11th Global Baku Forum, themed “Fixing the Fractured World”, started at the Gulustan Palace in Baku.

The 11th Global Baku Forum, themed “Fixing the Fractured World", welcomed 350 guests from more than 70 countries.

Speaking at the event, the President of Azerbaijan touched on several key issues regarding peace and stability in the South Caucasus. Besides that, the head os state spoke about the growing influence of the Global Baku Forum, and its transformation into one of the leading international conferences on a global scale.
“The Global Baku Forum already transformed many years ago into one of the leading international conferences on a global scale,” said President Ilham Aliyev as he addressed the opening ceremony.

“I think that the Global Baku Forum is now in line with such leading international fora like the Davos World Economic Forum and the Munich Security Conference,” the head of state emphasised.

In addition, President Ilham Aliyev stressed the geopolitical changes in Azerbaijan and the region during the last year, as well as Azerbaijan's complete restoration of its sovereignty.

“Since we met last time, many things have happened in the world and also in our region. The main geopolitical change, which happened since we met last time here a year ago, is the full restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.”

President Ilham Aliyev added that this change also creates ample opportunities for sustainable peace in the future. It also promises positive results in terms of the security of the South Caucasus.

“And this is a really very serious geopolitical change, which I think will have a lot of positive consequences with respect to the resolution of conflicts, which seem to be unresolvable,” the president underlined.

At the same time, the head of state added that today, Azerbaijan is closer to peace with Armenia than ever before. He also emphasised that this is due to the historical victory that Azerbaijan gained in 44 days.

However, as the head of state noted, Armenia thought that it could perpetuate holding the territories of Azerbaijan under occupation until September 2020. For example, the Armenian Prime Minister's slogan "Karabakh is Armenia" was one of the blunders of the Armenian leadership, which had to pay for it with its humiliating defeat in 2020.

Armenia was not satisfied with this and continued provocations in Garabagh for three years. Finally, the time came to clean up the separatist and terrorist elements in Garabagh.

When the Azerbaijani army carried out anti-terrorist measures in September 2023, Armenia was very confident in the weapons and ammunition provided by foreign forces. They thought that the free weapons given to them would be able to return Garabagh to them again through occupation. But this time again, Armenia's estimates misled it, and in the end, some of the combat equipment was destroyed and some others were exhibited in the Trophy Park in Baku.

“During the last anti-terror operation, military ammunition, including heavy weapons and armoured vehicles, with a cost and worth close to 1 billion US dollars, was destroyed and taken as trophies. During the Second Karabakh War, military trophies and what was eliminated during the war had a cost was close to 5 billion US dollars,” the president said.

Of course, an interesting question arises here: at what expense were so many weapons given to Armenia? President Ilham Aliyev voiced this very question during his speech and clarified his question himself: "The question is: “Where did Armenia get all that money?” Of course, it's clear that all the weapons they were using against us were given to them free of charge,” the head of state underscored.

Despite all this injustice, double standards, and biased approaches, Azerbaijan was able to restore historical justice in the region and, most importantly, on its ancient lands. Garabagh finally got rid of the sounds of fire and bombs and woke up with the call to prayer, Adhan.

Azerbaijan undertakes a commitment that it will only take steps for peace negotiations. Because Azerbaijan has restored both justice and international law.

"We restored historical justice and international law. And now it's time to put an end to hostility in the region," the president said.

As mentioned above, organised by the Nizami Ganjavi International Centre under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, the 11th Global Baku Forum, themed “Fixing the Fractured World”, kicked off at the Gulustan Palace in Baku. The Nizami Ganjavi International Centre (NGIC) has become a leading international platform for addressing global challenges and raising awareness within the global community. As a result, interest in the events organised by the Centre is increasing year by year.

The Forum, running until March 16, will feature global discussions on the outcomes of COP28 and preparations for COP29. It will also hold discussions on factors threatening the new world order, including security issues, prospects for ensuring peace, and building stability in a divided world. Additionally, the forum will address world-shaking conflicts and mega-threats, including challenges related to climate, food, and nuclear security.

Simultaneously, the forum will focus on the role of military and economic alliances in global governance, regional perspectives, relations with the European Union and its neighbours, youth policy, ways to increase resilience to global challenges, inequality, scarcity of natural resources, migration, as well as artificial intelligence, drones, and cyber weapons.

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews’ Deputy Editor-in-Chief; follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

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