Azerbaijan borders two of the world’s most lively battle zones, however President Ilham Aliyev advised a convention of the world’s prime media specialists on Monday that peace continues to be achievable.
“We imagine that peace is feasible,” Aliyev stated in his opening remarks on the Shusha World Media Discussion board.
Reflecting on different transport choices and connecting routes, Aliyev famous that instability in different areas has elevated the significance of corridors by means of his nation.
“The state of affairs within the Center East has made this hall much more enticing,” the Azerbaijani president stated, referring to the continued growth of this more and more vital route.
Aliyev stated Azerbaijan has began supplying pure fuel to Germany and Austria as a part of a broader effort to broaden exports throughout Europe.
“We began supplying Germany and Austria this 12 months as a part of our general technique to broaden our presence within the European fuel market,” he stated.
Aliyev stated Azerbaijan presently provides pipeline fuel to 16 nations, together with 14 European nations, and negotiations with further EU member states are ongoing.
“We’re primary on this planet on this geography for fuel provide by pipeline and are nonetheless negotiating with some member states of the European Union to start provide and enhance provide.”
He argued that future development is dependent upon funding in transport infrastructure and extra certainty from European companions.
“We want long-term contracts, as a result of we want massive investments to dramatically enhance manufacturing,” Aliyev stated.
“And if in some unspecified time in the future they are saying, ‘Thanks, goodbye, we do not want you anymore,’ what will we do?”
Aliyev additionally turned to the wars within the Center East, saying Azerbaijan hopes the current escalation might be short-lived.
“I hope that the present outbreak of battle won’t final lengthy,” the Azerbaijani president stated.
Drawing on Azerbaijan’s personal expertise, he stated that sturdy peace can solely be achieved by means of respect for worldwide legislation.
“Peace have to be truthful and simply, and it have to be primarily based on worldwide legislation, not on anybody’s ambitions or plans.”
He concluded by calling for restraint throughout the area.
“My message to neighboring nations is to responsibly cease it as quickly as potential, attempt to normalize relations and keep away from escalating this course of,” Aliyev stated.
In the identical speech, Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan was contemplating not solely suspending its membership within the Council of Europe but additionally withdrawing from it altogether after parliament stripped the Baku delegation of its voting rights in 2024.
“We’re clearly contemplating leaving the group,” he stated, including that the group’s normal secretary had personally requested him to rethink.
Aliyev stated Azerbaijan will return to parliament solely after the voting rights of its delegation are restored. “We’ve got not taken any flawed steps,” he stated. “They made an unjust determination. In order that they must step again and admit their mistake.”
“The media have to be a bridge”
Sohail Mahmoud, Secretary-Normal of the D-8 Financial Cooperation Group, stated extra accountable reporting was “more and more vital”.
Mahmoud stated “credibility stays paramount in folks’s minds” as audiences search dependable info in an more and more crowded media panorama.
For Zaid al-Nawaise, director normal of Jordan’s Ministry of Communications, journalism itself is a vital technique of diplomacy.
“The media is comfortable energy,” Dr. Al-Nawaise advised Euronews.
“The media should develop into a bridge to reaching peace,” he defined. “The true mission of actual media is to not lose the reality. Slightly, its mission is to make clear the reality.”
Disinformation was a recurring theme all through the occasion, with many members, together with journalists, policymakers, and specialists, talking in regards to the issue of discerning the reality.
Leon Cooke, founding father of London-based strategic communications consultancy Atticus Companions, stated disinformation is a serious problem of the twenty first century.
“The media is each the issue and the answer,” Cook dinner advised Euronews. “Sadly, misinformation nonetheless exists.”
Held beneath the theme “The mission of media in selling peace: restoring reality and rebuilding belief,” the discussion board introduced collectively broadcasters, editors, authorities officers and communications specialists to debate the function of media in peacebuilding and navigating the rising affect of synthetic intelligence.
The Shusha World Media Discussion board will run till Tuesday and focus on how journalism can reply to battle, counter disinformation and rebuild public belief, at a time when info itself is an more and more vital think about worldwide affairs.
