TODAY.AZ / Politics

Miroslav Lajcak: I expect OSCE MG to do its best to find solution to Karabakh conflict

09 April 2018 [09:59] - TODAY.AZ

By  Trend


The United Nations (UN) expects from the OSCE Minsk Group to do its best to find a solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Miroslav Laj?ák, President of the UN General Assembly, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

“There are four resolutions of the UN Security Council and three resolutions of the UN General Assembly., As the President of the General Assembly, I wish to see these resolutions implemented. Right now, there is an established mechanism in place, the OSCE Minsk Group, which should be respected and used to its full potential. I expect the Minsk Group to do its best to find a peaceful solution to this conflict,” he said.

Asked about the work of the United Nations on preventing and helping to resolve conflicts, Laj?ák pointed out that often the work of the UN is visible only after the conflict blazes out.

“Then the Security Council meets and discusses and usually adopts resolutions. Sometimes, if needed, a decision is made to send peacekeeping forces. But since 2016, the way the UN looks at conflicts changed, as the Member States of the United Nations agreed on a new concept called “sustaining peace”. This means to look much more into the prevention of conflicts, to react when we see warning signs before a conflict breaks out. If we see these signs, we have to use tools such as preventive diplomacy or mediation to not allow a conflict to happen. By preventing conflicts, we are saving lives and we are also saving billions of US dollars,” said the UN General Assembly president.

Laj?ák added that later this month, 24-25 of April, he is organizing a high-level event in New York at the UN to discuss exactly this issue of sustaining peace and prevention of conflicts.

“I invited many presidents, heads of governments, foreign ministers, outstanding personalities to New York to speak about their experience of working with the UN on prevention of conflicts, and on addressing conflicts. I hope that this discussion will help us to achieve better results in preventing conflicts instead of only dealing with the consequences of a conflict,” he said.

Speaking about the current state of UN-Azerbaijan cooperation, Laj?ák noted that Azerbaijan is a highly respected member of the UN.

“Not long ago Azerbaijan was a member of the UN Security Council, which gives the country global visibility. Azerbaijan is a constructive and very active player in all processes that are taking place at the UN, in particular, energy and transport security, fighting against terrorism and the promotion of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. Azerbaijan is well recognized in the UN system and it is highly appreciated,” he noted.

Talking about the ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, which is being held in Baku, Laj?ák said that this is the reason that brought him here to Baku.

“The Non-Aligned Movement is a very important group of countries. It consists of more than 120 countries that represent 2/3 of the members of the UN General Assembly. Therefore, I wanted to use the opportunity to address this conference. For me, the most important message of this event is the need to strengthen multilateralism, rule-based order, and a system which is built on certain rules, norms and principles that should be respected by every country, big or small,” said the UN General Assembly President.

Laj?ák also spoke about his meetings with Azerbaijani president and the country’s foreign minister.

“We spoke about the role of Azerbaijan in promoting and implementing the agenda of the UN. I commended Azerbaijan for being a very active and very visible member of the UN. Azerbaijan is seen as a strong advocate of the UN principles and UN Charter. As mentioned when asked about UN-Azerbaijan cooperation, it is seen as a country that is very visible on issues such as the intercultural, interreligious dialogue, fight against terrorism, energy security and transport security. Azerbaijan’s active role and its commitment to implement the UN agenda, especially, the Sustainable Development Goals here in the country, for ensuring poverty reduction, gender equality or access to education, health care. The visible progress is respected and highly appreciated,” he said.

Further, Laj?ák emphasized his priorities as the UN General Assembly President.

“The President of the UN General Assembly has a one-year mandate. My term started in September 2017 and will end in September 2018. Besides chairing the General Assembly, I’m dealing with 18 different processes at the UN at the moment. Eight of them are reform processes. I have appointed Ambassadors who are leading these processes on my behalf. I am constantly in touch with them to ensure that we deliver results. Additionally, I am organizing altogether four high-level discussions. I mentioned already the one on sustaining peace and prevention at the end of this month. Last month I’ve organized one on water. We launched the international decade of water for sustainable development. In May, there will be my Youth Dialogue, an event for and with young people, and focusing on education, employment and prevention from radicalization leading to violent extremism. And in June, I’ll host an event to discuss how to get additional financial resources for the implementation of sustainable development goals,” he concluded.














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