Ilham Aliyev receives UN Deputy Secretary-General

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, in Baku on Thursday to discuss cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UN, as well as the 13th session of the World Urban Forum.

The head of state expressed his gratitude to the UN leadership for its support in organising the WUF13 session, noting that the Azerbaijani government and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) had worked as a single team to ensure the successful delivery of the event, News.Az reports, citing AZERTAC.

President Aliyev highlighted that WUF13 was the second-largest global event hosted by Azerbaijan in terms of participation, after COP29, and emphasised that the forum, like COP29, had been successfully organised.

The head of state said that Azerbaijan maintains effective cooperation with UN-Habitat and will continue its partnership with the programme in the future, while remaining actively engaged in other sessions of the World Urban Forum.

Amina Mohammed conveyed greetings from UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the head of state.

President Aliyev thanked her for the message and asked her to pass on his own regards to António Guterres.

Amina Mohammed noted that WUF13 had been successfully held and congratulated the president on the occasion. She said she was deeply impressed by the large number of high-level participants from countries around the world.

She also praised the harmonious blend of historical heritage and modernity in Baku, achieved through the application of contemporary urban planning standards, saying this gives the capital a distinctive character.

During the meeting, it was noted that reconstruction and development projects implemented by Azerbaijan in the liberated territories serve as a model for other post-conflict regions. The importance of sharing Azerbaijan’s experience with other countries within the UN framework was also emphasised.

The meeting recalled that Azerbaijan’s “ASAN Xidmət” model has been awarded the UN Public Service Award, as well as a UN special award for digital public service delivery. It was noted that the ASAN Xidmət experience has since been implemented in various countries across Africa and Asia.

The sides emphasised that Azerbaijan, as an active UN member state, has maintained long-standing and effective cooperation with the organisation and has contributed to the implementation of its programmes and initiatives. They also noted that Azerbaijan has successfully hosted numerous high-level UN events in various fields to date.

News.Az