AZERBAIJAN AT THE G20 SUMMIT

Recently, there has been visible evidence of the growing recognition of the international authority of the Azerbaijan Republic. The number of official and working visits to our country by foreign presidents, prime ministers, ministers and heads of influential international organizations is much greater than to neighbouring Armenia and Georgia combined. Last year Azerbaijan was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council while representatives of our country took over the presidency of several sub-committees of UNESCO. The continuation of this trend was the fact that Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov was invited to attend a summit of G20 foreign ministers, which was held in 18-20 February in the Mexican city of Los Cabos. As we know, Mexico currently holds the presidency of this authoritative international forum, and will host a high-level summit in the summer of 2012.

Perhaps, it is worth recalling what G20 is. This is a shortened acronym for Great20, which is an annual meeting of heads of state or government, finance ministers and central bankers from 19 countries (Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Canada, China, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Turkey, France, South Africa, Korea and Japan) plus the European Union. As a rule, these summits are attended by the UN secretary-general, as well as high representatives of the IMF and World Bank. G20 countries represent 90 per cent of the world economy, 80 per cent of international trade and two-thirds of our planet's population.

G20 meetings were offered primarily for discussing actual problems of the world economy and finances, but after heads of state and government began participating in them in 2008, these summits also became platforms for exchanging opinions and coordinating positions on topical issues of international politics. At the last summit, which was held in the French resort town of Cannes in early November 2011, measures to prevent the global financial crisis and global recession were the focus of attention.

By tradition, in addition to regular participants, other interested countries and representatives of international organizations are also invited to G20 summits. This time, along with Azerbaijan, the foreign ministers of Austria, Norway, Cambodia, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Singapore, Colombia, Algeria and Chile, as well as a representative of the African Union received an invitation to Mexico. As you can see, the guests are representatives of different continents, but of the Eastern European countries, the only guest was Azerbaijan.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Elman Abdullayev, commenting on this event to the media, noted that certain parameters are taken into account while inviting a country: the dynamic development of the country, its role in the region, activity in international processes and active participation in international humanitarian missions, where Azerbaijan distinguished itself last year. According to Abdullayev, the presence in the international format is "... indicative of the seriousness of the partner, which will allow the country to come up with more concrete and promising initiatives and proposals. Of course, Azerbaijan will thus increase its international presence." In turn, Mexico's Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa, who chaired the meeting, noted that the participation of Azerbaijan and other countries as guests in the meeting stems from their importance in the region they represent and their role in the international world.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov attended the meeting not as a humble listener - he was asked to preside at one of the panels. In his speech, he drew attention to the need to establish mechanisms to ensure the implementation of resolutions adopted by the UN. By way of confirmation, Elmar Mammadyarov pointed to the adoption of four resolutions on the

Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict by the UN Security Council, which, due to the lack of a mechanism for monitoring their implementation, have remained unfulfilled in their most important parts for almost twenty years - the immediate and unconditional liberation of the occupied Azerbaijani territories by Armenians. Then, Elmar Mammadyarov touched on issues of sustainable development and poverty reduction and stressed the progress made by Azerbaijan in this area in the 20 years of independence. According to him, Azerbaijan is making a great investment in education, which will enable future generations to build a powerful state with a strong economy and social policy. He also noted that the main field of development in the country is the sphere of information and communication technologies.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov held several bilateral meetings during the summit. He met with Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, the Italian Foreign Ministry's State Secretary Marta Dassu, US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar and others. During the meeting, the sides discussed the development of bilateral relations, as well as a number of regional issues.

Interest in Azerbaijan is very specific. Indeed, in contrast to Armenia, which has nothing to offer the world other than historical myths, unsubstantiated claims and endless requests for financial and economic assistance, Azerbaijan has significant resources of oil and is able to make a significant contribution to the energy security of its partners. The monetary and financial reserves, which are concentrated in the Oil Fund and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan and exceeded $ 40 billion at the beginning of the year, turned the country into a potentially important international investor and donor of economic aid for the poorest countries.

This, as well as responsible behaviour in carrying out international obligations and a principled position on major issues of world politics attract the attention of not only individual countries to Azerbaijan but also of the world's most powerful military, political and economic alliances. In this respect, President Ilham Aliyev's working visit to Brussels on 15 February, during which he met with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is significant. The sides discussed issues of Azerbaijan's integration into the Euro-Atlantic area, the Karabakh settlement, energy security and the operation of the Alliance in Afghanistan. Not only did Azerbaijan confirm its readiness to continue to provide its airspace to NATO aircraft flying into Afghanistan, it also agreed to participate in financing the Afghan security forces. It was announced that President Ilham Aliyev will take part in the NATO summit in Chicago, as well as in a summit on nuclear security in Seoul. The dialogue and cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union are actively developing. In April, Baku will host the first meeting of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly outside the European Union. Euronest was created as part of the Eastern Partnership programme.

The above examples of our country's increasing involvement in global and regional policies can be continued. They show that unexpectedly for ill-wishers and to the pleasant surprise of its friends, Azerbaijan is strengthening its international position year by year and is turning into a state which is conducting an independent foreign policy and whose opinion should be taken into account.