Baku hosts 7th CICA Summit, President Ilham Aliyev addresses the event

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev welcomed the heads of state and government attending the event.

According to TodayPress TV, opening the summit, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said:

- Esteemed heads of state and government,

Distinguished heads of delegations,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to welcome you to Baku for the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). I express my gratitude to all of you for accepting our invitation. I declare the 7th Summit of Heads of State and Government of CICA open.

First of all, we must approve the agenda. If there are no proposals, the agenda is approved.

One of the items on the agenda is the decision on the accession of the Lao People's Democratic Republic to CICA as a member state. This is the third item on our agenda, and I propose that we adopt the decision on the accession of the Lao People's Democratic Republic to CICA as a member state.

If there are no objections, the decision on the accession of the Lao People"s Democratic Republic to CICA as a member state is adopted. Congratulations.

The admission of the Lao People's Democratic Republic as a new CICA member is an important event that demonstrates the Conference"s growing importance and its development as a more inclusive platform for dialogue in Asia. We highly appreciate that this has taken place during Azerbaijan's chairmanship of CICA, at the Baku Summit.

I congratulate His Excellency President Thongloun Sisoulith and congratulate us all on the adoption of this decision.

The next item on the agenda is the speeches by the heads of delegations. With your permission, I will be the first to speak in my capacity as the incumbent Chairman of CICA.

Speech by President Ilham Aliyev

- Distinguished Heads of State and Government,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to Azerbaijan.

First and foremost, I express my gratitude to all Member States of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) for their unanimous support extended for Azerbaijan's Chairmanship in 2024. We regard this as a sign of respect and trust, as well as a demonstration of support for our activities in chairing a number of international forums.

Geographically located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, Azerbaijan plays an increasingly important role as a bridge across the Eurasian space. Our cooperation with many states in the political, economic, transport, energy and humanitarian spheres, within both bilateral and multilateral frameworks, in turn strengthens the security system in our region.

Azerbaijan consistently pursues an independent foreign policy based on the principles of sovereign equality, non-interference in internal affairs, and the priority of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the states.

Azerbaijan actively and in a well-reasoned manner speaks out against the pernicious practice of application of double standards and selective approaches to the settlement of interstate conflicts.

Since the restoration of its independence 35 years ago, our country has continuously faced such double standards. For 30 years, approximately 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory remained under occupation of Armenia. Armenia committed military aggression against Azerbaijan, carrying out ethnic cleansing and expelling one million Azerbaijanis from their native historic lands, both in Garabagh and Eastern Zangezur, as well as from the territory of present-day Armenia.

In 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories, but they remained on paper for 30 years. The OSCE Minsk Group, established in 1992 to resolve the conflict, engaged in imitation and aimed at freezing the conflict.

The former leadership of Armenia – all three former presidents of Armenia and their accomplices, who are war criminals and baby killers – haven"t yet received the punishment they deserve. The current Armenian leadership continued the criminal policies of its predecessors from 2018.

In 2019, the current Prime Minister of Armenia, speaking in the occupied Khankendi, in Garabagh, declared that "Garabakh is Armenia, and period." The then Armenian Minister of Defense publicly threatened Azerbaijan with a new war for new territories. All this unbridled arrogance was tolerated by the so-called international community. No one condemned Armenia for its occupation, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and murder, and the desecration of the religious shrines of the Azerbaijani people. The UN Security Council did not insist on the implementation of the resolutions it has itself adopted. The OSCE remained indifferent. The European Parliament and the Council of Europe, two anachronisms and atavisms of the international relations, constantly attacked Azerbaijan, the victim of aggression, while encouraging the aggressor – Armenia.

The OSCE Minsk Group which was established to resolve the conflict was paralyzed by its co-chairs, who monopolized the issue and pursued coordinated policies of freezing the conflict.

In July and August 2020, Armenia committed two military provocations, causing the deaths of Azerbaijani servicemen. At that point, the patience of the Azerbaijani people came to an end. And the time of reckoning came. The 2020 Patriotic War lasted 44 days. During this period, Azerbaijan liberated more than 300 cities and villages on the battlefield, expelling the Armenian occupiers from the occupied territories. On 10 November 2020, Armenia signed an act of capitulation. The war came to an end, but a part of Azerbaijan"s territory remained under occupation.

For three years, Azerbaijan sought to resolve the issue of the full restoration of its sovereignty through peaceful means, but Armenia abused this respite as an opportunity to rebuild its forces and once again attack Azerbaijan, this time with the assistance of its new Western patrons. This is precisely what happened in September 2023. And once again, the "Iron Fist" of the Azerbaijani soldier spoke for itself.

In less than 24 hours, the Armenian army's expeditionary corps in Garabagh was completely defeated. Azerbaijan fully restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity and put an end to separatism. The leaders of the separatists, war criminals and baby killers were brought before the Azerbaijani court.

In substance and in form, this was analogous to the Nuremberg Tribunal. But this time, it was the Armenian fascists who were in the dock. Those who threatened us that they would come to Baku on tanks, occupy Baku and drink tea here now drink Azerbaijani tea in our prisons, and their tanks are being displayed in the Military Trophy Park. By the way, our guests can visit the Victory Park, Victory Museum and Military Trophy Park for fully understand the nature and essence of the occupation and the historic victory of the Azerbaijani people.

I have dwelled at length on this issue, because it is of global significance. Until mechanisms are developed to ensure the implementation of decisions and resolutions of the UN Security Council and other international organizations, wars and conflicts will continue, and new ones will emerge.

Had sanctions been imposed on Armenia due to occupation of our territories, the genocide and ethnic cleansing it had committed, Azerbaijan would not have had to break the backbone of Armenian fascism on the battlefield. The impunity of the aggressor only magnified its arrogance.

War was not our choice. It was imposed upon us by Armenia, and its patrons apparently did not believe that Azerbaijan would restore its sovereignty and uphold international law by force. But they all miscalculated. Perhaps they did not know well enough the character of our proud and freedom-loving people guided by the laws of our traditions and moral values.

We won the war and drove the occupiers from our lands, but we did not seek revenge for 30 years of suffering, for the genocide, or for the destruction of our cities and villages. We took our revenge on the battlefield. And we offered peace to Armenia. This once again demonstrated the character of our people. We did not strike at an enemy who was already down. We did not descend to the level of those barbarians and baby killers who inflicted so much suffering upon our people. We offered peace, and we have now been living in peace for a little more than a year. The peace is still fragile, and it needs to be protected and consolidated.

Distinguished heads of delegation,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

During two years of its Chairmanship, Azerbaijan paid priority attention to strengthen the CICA and actively advanced cooperation in such areas as transport, connectivity, digitalization, environment, tourism, education, science and other fields.

Thanks to various initiatives implemented with the unanimous support of all Member States, today CICA is institutionally and legally stronger, its membership has expanded, and it is capacity to facilitate dialogue and interaction to enhance security, economic growth and mutual understanding in its geography has been significantly strengthened.

Taking this opportunity, I thank all Member States for their support to the idea of prolonging Azerbaijan's CICA Chairmanship for another two years.

I thank you for your attention.

x x x

Officials from other member states then delivered their remarks.