AT THE OTHER END OF THE WORLD

The head of the American territorial department of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry (deputy permanent representative of Azerbaijan to the Organization of American States (OAS) in 2001-05), Ilqar Yusif oglu Muxtarov

In the international arena, Azerbaijan is consistently following the policy initiated in the middle of the 1990s. The basis of this policy is the strengthening of the interests of the Azerbaijani state and its citizens by means of a balanced approach to mutual relations with other countries on the main geographical vectors of foreign policy and economy.

Relations between Azerbaijan and Latin American countries were first established more than 15 years ago. Political contacts between Azerbaijan and the countries of that region developed significantly at the end of the 1990s. As a result, in June 1999, Hafiz Pasayev was appointed Azerbaijan's first ambassador to Mexico, with an office in Washington. We should point out that, at Pasayev's initiative, contacts were established with representatives of countries accredited by the Organization of American States (35 countries of the western hemisphere are members of the OAS). This was done in order to achieve observer status to this organization. The expediency of accrediting a representative of our country to the OAS was prompted by the possibility of following developments in this old international organization closely, as well as facilitating bilateral contacts with Latin American countries (bearing in mind that Azerbaijan does not have embassies or representative offices on this continent).

Under these conditions, the steps taken by our diplomats to send representatives to the OAS were quite justified and expedient. As a result of these contacts, Latin American countries supported Azerbaijan and granted us observer status to the OAS in April 2001. This allowed our country to officially inform all countries of this organization about Azerbaijan's position on the main issues of international politics, including real information about the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenian aggressors, by participating in UN General Assembly sessions, various conferences and so on.

Annual OAS sessions make it possible to hold a working dialogue which helps prepare for future high-level meetings and to determine and outline the agenda and contents of both multilateral and bilateral meetings within the framework of the UN General Assembly. Full participation in these sessions testifies to the independence of our foreign policy with regard to Latin America, which we are successfully implementing.

We have to point out that there is a tendency towards steady economic development in Latin America at the moment. It is also very important that domestic political stability is getting stronger. After the conclusion of a whole number of agreements in which the international community played an active role, it became possible to switch from complicated domestic armed conflicts lasting many years to democratic development, with state institutions based on the rule of law becoming stronger and the political struggle being waged constitutionally.

Taking account of human resources and their economic, scientific and cultural potential, there is a strengthening of the political influence of Latin American countries in the international arena and their aspiration to be represented in the UN Security Council (Brazil) and other leading organizations of the international community.

The further expansion of political contacts directly depends on the establishment and development of economic relations in the spheres of business, energy and the economy.

Azerbaijan is not alone on the path to economic reform. Research into economic developments in individual countries of Latin America which have encountered the same problems as our country (unemployment, foreign debt, low competitiveness of products on the world market, relations with international financial institutions), will make it possible to predict socioeconomic developments and to avoid mistakes in the process of implementing our economic programme.

In the establishment of relations with Latin American countries, Azerbaijan attaches considerable importance to the development of a legal-contractual base, which is the main element of bilateral cooperation. At present, we are in the process of agreeing on a number of bilateral agreements with experts of various countries of the region, such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru and so on. We have to point out that 2005-06 saw a significant breakthrough in relations between Azerbaijan and countries of the southern hemisphere, which laid the foundations of the further strengthening of links between our country and this region. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov made official visits to leading countries of South America for the first time where he signed a number of bilateral agreements. The country's leadership took a decision to open diplomatic representations in Argentina, Mexico and Cuba. The 13th international conference of the Academy of Latin Culture (headquartered in Rio de Janeiro) called "Cultural differences of Eurasia: Azerbaijan - the past and the present in the dialogue between civilizations" was held in Baku in association with the Heydar Aliyev Fund on 19-21 April 2006. The conference was attended by well-known cultural figures, scientists, writers, literary experts and researchers from more than 20 countries of the world, including from Latin America.

There is a need to intensify our Latin American policy for Azerbaijan's current and long-term interests. It is necessary to expand the sphere of our country's diplomatic activity in Latin American countries, to establish diplomatic relations with all states of the region, without exception, and to increase contacts with Latin American representatives in the UN and other international organizations on the basis of close or overlapping positions on a number of international problems, to increase the number of mutual visits by statesmen, to exchange students and teachers, to hold exhibitions, cultural programmes and so on.

The appearance of the Latin American region in Azerbaijan's foreign policy meets its national interests; it is based on an analysis of cooperation between the leading countries of the world and the region. Latin America is important to us as one of the bridges to Azerbaijan's integration into world political and economic relations.