President Ilham Aliyev meets OSCE Secretary General in Munich

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has met with Secretary General of the OSCE, Deputy President of the Foundation Council, Munich Security Conference Helga Maria Schmid in Munich, at the latter’s request.

The Secretary-General of the OSCE congratulated the head of state on his victory in the presidential election and on Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP29. President Ilham Aliyev expressed gratitude for the congratulations.

During the conversation, they touched upon cooperation between Azerbaijan and the OSCE on climate change, including the organization of joint events in this regard and shared their views on regional issues.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that the meeting organized at the initiative of the Chancellor of Germany took place in a constructive and fruitful environment. He highlighted that agreements had already been reached on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the delimitation of borders, and the negotiations on a peace treaty. In this regard, the Azerbaijani leader emphasized that a meeting at the level of foreign ministers had been agreed upon to take place shortly. The President underlined that achieving peace and signing a peace agreement is very realistic, stating that de facto peace exists in the region.

Furthermore, the President pointed out that the process of assigning the presidency of COP29 to Azerbaijan is a positive step as such as it was realized through mutual understanding and compromise between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He highlighted the necessity of continuing this dynamic.

The President of Azerbaijan emphasized that it is long overdue to completely abolish inactive structures within the OSCE framework, including the Minsk Group, the High-Level Planning Group, and entities such as the personal representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, which he characterized as remnants of the past. He highlighted existing budgetary concerns within the OSCE framework and stressed the importance of reallocating limited financial resources towards more purposeful objectives, Azernews reports.