Azerbaijan to upgrade achievements in democracy, civil society

/AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Baku has hosted an international conference titled “NGO cooperation, achievements and prospects.”

The conference was held by Council of State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations under the president of Azerbaijan on November 19.

Deputy Head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Head of Foreign Relations Department Novruz Mammadov and other high-ranking officials attended the event, AzerTag news agency reported.

NGO Council Chairperson Azay Guliyev, addressing the event, said the aim of the event was evaluating cooperation between Azerbaijan and the NGOs in international arena, as well exchanging views about peace and regional security, intercultural dialogue, future cooperation opportunities among the civil institutions and protecting the human rights and freedoms.

Guliyev further said Azerbaijan is determined to upgrade its achievements in the fields of democracy and civil society.

He noted that the council attaches great importance to international cooperation.

Novruz Mammadov, for his part, highlighted the increasing role of NGOs in development of the civil society across the world. He said several NGOs could influence the ongoing processes.

Mammadov also spoke of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which erupted back in 1988 over Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

He said holding the military training of Armenian armed forces in Azerbaijan`s occupied lands was another provocation against the country, expressing regret that the Western media didn’t cover the issue properly enough.

“Still double standards are seen against Azerbaijanis whose rights are violated as the result of the conflict,” he said.

Mammadov called representatives of NGOs to demonstrate their position in this regard.

Deputy Speaker of Azerbaijani Parliament Bahar Muradova spoke of the justice principles in the world. She said Azerbaijan protected international law, justice ideas and peaceful cooperation among the countries during UN Security Council`s membership.

Muradova provided an insight into the cooperation between Azerbaijani Parliament and the Council of State Support to NGOs and stressed the role of this cooperation in regulating the relations between the civilians and parliament.