Ilham Aliyev outlined the priorities of Azerbaijan`s chairmanship in the ECO

Baku/10.10.23/Turan: Azerbaijan is an active member of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and attaches great importance to relations with its member countries, the welcoming message of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to the participants of the 27th meeting of the ECO Council of Ministers held in Shusha.

The ECO Ministerial meeting is taking place during a "significant historical period" for Azerbaijan, when the country has fully restored sovereignty over its entire territory. "Thirty years later, the elimination of the gray zone existing in our territories and the end of separatism is the triumph of international law and justice," Aliyev said.

"Based on the principle of solving regional issues with the direct participation of the countries of the region, Azerbaijan has put forward a 3+3 cooperation format. At present, historical conditions have been created for the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, the signing of a peace treaty, and the transformation of the South Caucasus region into a place of peace and cooperation," the head of state stressed.

Azerbaijan's election of the main theme "Green Transition and mutual ties" during the ECO presidency is particularly relevant. "Issues such as decarbonization and increasing the types of "green energy" form the basis of the sustainable development agenda of our country. At the same time, large-scale reconstruction and rehabilitation works in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, declared zones of "green energy", are carried out in accordance with the concept of "smart city" and "smart village"," Aliyev said.

"Taking into account the growing demand for cargo transportation on the East-West route, we are striving to increase the volume of cargo transported by the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway from 1 million tons to 5 million tons. An agreement has also been reached with Iran on the construction of a road and railway that will provide access to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the same time, Azerbaijan is actively working to further expand the capacity of the North-South transport corridor," Aliyev further noted.

Touching upon the restoration of Azerbaijani territories, Aliyev said that in the next three years it is planned to return 100 thousand people to the liberated lands. *ECO countries include Azerbaijan, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. ---06B---