Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia has been extended for another two years, President Ilham Aliyev said at the group’s seventh summit in Baku.
Aliyev thanked CICA member states for supporting the extension and said the organization had grown stronger institutionally and legally. He described Azerbaijan as an increasingly important link across Eurasia and said its foreign policy was based on noninterference and respect for states’ territorial integrity.
Laos Joins CICA
The president also announced that the Lao People’s Democratic Republic had been admitted as a member, calling it symbolic that the decision was formalized at the Baku summit. The meeting and Aliyev’s address were reported by APA.
CICA brings Asian states together for dialogue on security, confidence-building and cooperation. The expansion and chairmanship extension give Baku a continued role in shaping the organization’s agenda.
Aliyev Recounts Karabakh Conflict
A substantial part of Aliyev’s speech addressed the conflict with Armenia. He said war had not been Azerbaijan’s choice and argued that years of occupation and the absence of effective international pressure on Yerevan had forced Baku toward a military solution.
Aliyev said Azerbaijani forces regained more than 300 cities and villages during the 44-day war and that the country restored control over all of its territory in an operation lasting less than a day in September 2023.
He also criticized the former OSCE Minsk Group, describing its work as an imitation of diplomacy, and said the U.N. Security Council had failed to enforce its own resolutions. Those remarks represented the Azerbaijani government’s assessment of the conflict.
The two-year extension means Baku will continue setting priorities within CICA, with regional dialogue, transport connectivity and confidence-building expected to remain key themes.
Source: Vesti Baku