President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev spoke at the expanded meeting of the SCO Samarkand Summit.
Noting that Azerbaijan has made significant contributions to the implementation of regional transportation projects such as east-west and north-south transportation corridors, Aliyev said that currently, Baku International Maritime Trade Port has an annual capacity of 15 million tons, which can be increased to 25 million tons.
Explaining that in the first 7 months of this year, the transit passage through Azerbaijani lands increased by about 50 percent, and that Azerbaijan has the largest civilian cargo fleet in the Caspian Sea with 52 ships, Aliyev said that in the last 20 years, 19 thousand kilometers of highways and 1400 kilometers of railways have been built or He said it was overhauled.
Reminding that Azerbaijan built thousands of kilometers of highways and hundreds of kilometers of railways on the lands liberated from the occupation after the Second Karabakh War Victory, Aliyev stated that they will increase the total number of international airports in the country from 7 to 9 by the end of 2024.
AFTER THE ZENGEZUR CORRIDOR IS OPENED, IT WILL FURTHER INCREASE THE TRANSPORTATION CAPABILITIES OF THE REGIONAL COUNTRIES
Emphasizing that with the resolution of the Karabakh problem at the end of 2020, new opportunities have emerged for the development of transportation and communication projects in the region, Aliyev said, “After the opening of the Zangezur Corridor, it will further increase the transportation capabilities of the countries in the region and will be beneficial for all countries on the route.” said.
Noting that they presented Armenia with five main principles for a peace agreement based on the recognition of mutual sovereignty and territorial integrity, Aliyev said:
- We must now start working on a draft peace agreement without preconditions and artificial delays. Unfortunately, on September 13 of this year, Armenia carried out a large-scale military provocation on the state border with Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces resolutely prevented this provocation. This provocation by Armenia is a major blow to the normalization process between the two countries. Therefore, all responsibility falls on the military and political leadership of Armenia.
Expressing that the ineffectiveness of some international organizations is worrying, Aliyev said that the failure to implement the four resolutions of the UN Security Council in 1993 demanding the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories is unacceptable.
Aliyev stated that by solving the Karabakh problem through military-political means, they ensured the implementation of the 1993 resolutions of the UNSC.