Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Azerbaijan deputy foreign minister discusses cooperation in rebuilding war-torn region
Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elnur Mammadov, left, shakes hands with Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Yeo Seung-bae during the two countries' eighth political affairs session at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of MOFA
By Kwon Mee-yoo
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elnur Mammadov visited Korea last week to discuss bilateral cooperation on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Azerbaijan and Korea.
Mammadov emphasized the importance of the rules-based international order as a solution to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Azerbaijan has been in a decades-long conflict with Armenia and has asked Korea to take part in rebuilding the South Caucasus nation's region of Nagorno-Karabakh, liberated two years ago.
The deputy minister also explained Azerbaijan's stance regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict. As a former Soviet country, Azerbaijan was close to both countries before the war broke out and has been trying to mediate the situation.
"There is a lot of mediation, trying to avoid the worst possible scenario. When the war started, we called for an immediate ceasefire and we call for the parties to immediately return to the diplomatic table," he said during a meeting with the Foreign Language Newspapers Association of Korea, Thursday morning.
"On the political side, we were quite vocal and clear and loud in terms of how we see this conflict being resolved. First, it has to be resolved diplomatically. But in the meantime, it's not just any solution that the parties would agree to. It's a solution that would be based on the basic principles of international law. We've also offered to be a mediation platform as a venue for any negotiations."
Azerbaijan is known for oil, gas and related petroleum products and part of the country's investment in Ukraine is the gas stations operated by its state-owned oil company.
"We started providing free fuel and gasoline to ambulances and fire trucks, NGOs and others who are engaged in humanitarian purposes," Mammadov said.
The deputy minister urged the international community to respect the rules-based international order in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
"For all these years, we've been calling for the respect of sovereignty. This is a bedrock of the international law that advocated for many years in terms of our conflict," he said.
"We continue to be consistent (with international rule of law), despite our very close ties with Russia."
During his visit, Mammadov held political consultations with Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Yeo Seung-bae and also met with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Rep. Suh Byung-soo of the People Power Party, who chairs the Korea-Azerbaijan Friendship Association.
Mammadov said his visit provided a chance to reinvigorate the relations between Korea and Azerbaijan and take a look at the bilateral agenda for the post-pandemic era.
"Another major development that took place about two years ago is that we liberated the Karabakh region as a result of the second Karabakh war," he said, adding that Azerbaijan hopes for Korea to give a hand in reconstructing the region.
Korea was one of the first countries to send assistance to Azerbaijan after its independence through KOICA, starting in 1994.
"We have so much legacy and positive history associated with KOICA and Korea because you were one of the first to help us in terms of technical assistance, grants and other development programs," he said.
He said that he brought some of the investment projects in the region for political consultation, expecting the Korean government and Korean companies to assist in rebuilding the territory, especially in new infrastructure for clean energy.
"Historically, our major revenue has been generated by the sale of oil and gas, but a few years ago, we declared that we would start a transition to renewable, clean energy and we've also committed to decarbonizing by 2050," he said.
"I think so many opportunities are out there in the field of green energy."