As a result of the efforts jointly made by Azerbaijan and the OSCE Minsk Group, it became possible to return Armenia to the negotiating table, the spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Hikmat Hajiyev, said at a press conference on the outcome of 2017 foreign policy in Baku.
"The occupation of Azerbaijani lands must be ended, refuges and IDPs must return to their native lands,” the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza cited him as saying. "We hope the OSCE Group will continue active work in this direction," the diplomat noted.
"Azerbaijan positively responds to proposals on expanding the Office of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative. The increase in the number of staff members of the OSCE chairperson-in-office personal representative’s office should be conducted in parallel with substantive and intensive negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," the diplomat stressed.
Baku condemns missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, Hajiyev said, pointing out that and such negative facts can even further worsen already tense situation in the region. "We call for doubling diplomatic political efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region," he said.
The diplomat said that the mid-term Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement will be held in Baku on April 3-6, 2018, adding that Azerbaijan will chair the Non-Aligned Movement in 2019-2022 and the next summit will also be held in Azerbaijan in 2019.
Hikmat Hajiyev also said that the list of undesirable persons of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry includes the names of 600 persons. He recalled that in 2017, Azerbaijan was asked to remove the names of 10 people from the list of undesirable persons, adding that some of the names were removed from the list.
