Azernews.Az

By Aisha Jabbarova

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has said that his country is focused on strengthening confidence-building measures and communication projects in the region in the post-war period after resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh war with Armenia. He also described the overall post-war situation as positive.

The president made the remarks in a press conference held with his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Baku on April 14.

He said that that regional transport and logistics projects are being discussed as part of the Azerbaijan-Armenia-Russia trilateral working group at the level of deputy prime ministers and within the framework of consultations with neighboring Turkey and Iran.

The trilateral working group that Aliyev refers to was set up following the January 11 Moscow meeting of the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders who agreed to restore communication lines and security between Azerbaijan and Armenia following six-week-war in 2020.

It should be noted that article 9 of the November 10 agreement called for “unblocking of regional economic and transport links.

Commenting on the Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020 that saw Azerbaijan liberate its occupied territories, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan resolved the conflict by itself by implementing four UN Security Council resolutions which remained on paper for 27 years, as the mechanism for their implementation was not used.

“The messages the Minsk Group co-chair countries [mediating the conflict since 1994] sent to the Armenian side to end the occupation were also not fulfilled, while their statements that the status quo was unacceptable were not heard by the Armenian side,” Aliyev said.

Speaking about tie with Belarus, Aliyev said that the two countries increased turnover significantly in 2020 due to Azerbaijans’ supply of crude oil to Belarus.

“In the first quarter of this year, the supply of crude oil continued in larger volumes, and I think we will significantly exceed last year's level.”

Aliyev noted that he has discussed with Lukashenko Belarusian companies’ future participation in the restoration of the liberated territories in Karabakh in a number of areas, stressing that his government will only involve companies from friendly countries in the restoration work. Belarusian companies will contribute to “Green Karabakh Zone” concept.

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