External Actors and Geopolitical Pivoting in the South Caucasus By Marat Terterov, PhD, Founder, and former Executive Director of the EGF
Small countries often find themselves having to make difficult choices when it comes to navigating optimal pathways for their national development. Their relations with larger powers, as well as competing relations between larger powers with an interest in specific regions where small countries are located, will invariably impact on their development. One of the regions of the world where the impact of larger powers on the development of smaller countries is highly evident is the South Caucasus, a region of the former-Soviet Union predominantly associated with the countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. These three relatively small yet important countries in a region of strategic importance have come a long way since they became independent nation states following the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.
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- Friday, 26 July 2024, 15:32
Azerbaijan Strengthens Trilateral Cooperation With Pakistan and Türkiye By Vasif HUSEYNOV, PhD, Head of Department, AIR Center, Adjunct Lecturer, ADA and Khazar Universities, Baku
On July 11 and 12, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev paid a state visit to Pakistan to bolster bilateral ties with Islamabad. The visit came less than two weeks after Aliyev’s meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for their first-ever trilateral summit. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on July 3 in Astana and was a significant milestone in elevating their tripartite cooperation from parliamentary and ministerial levels to state leadership. Both Aliyev’s visit to Islamabad and the trilateral summit of Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and Türkiye highlight the three countries’ commitment to expanding their trilateral trade and transit cooperation, as well as better integrating their military capabilities and defence production.
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- Friday, 26 July 2024, 15:31
What does Azerbaijan’s “shift to the East” mean for the South Caucasus? By Yeghia TASHJIAN, Beirut-based regional analyst and researcher, columnist, "The Armenian Weekly”
On August 29, 2023, in my article “What does the expansion of BRICS mean for the South Caucasus?” I argued that Iran’s accession to BRICS and the integration of the region’s infrastructure into the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) would similarly increase pressure on Armenia and Azerbaijan to join the bloc. The post-2020 regional status quo and the war in Ukraine have opened the path for new Eurasian actors such as India and China to exert their influence on the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan is the main beneficiary of this development. Positioned strategically along the North-South and East-West transport corridors, Baku has capitalized on its position to become a pivotal transportation and logistics hub in Eurasia. This has caught the attention of China amid the geopolitical shifts that took place in the South Caucasus in light of the second Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Ukraine wars.
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- Friday, 26 July 2024, 15:30
What drives Azerbaijani obsession with the Armenian Constitution? By Benyamin POGHOSYAN, PhD, Chairman, Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies
Since the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in negotiations to sign a peace agreement. The process seems like a roller coaster of extreme ups and downs, reflecting the volatile and unpredictable nature of the discussions. Several times, the sides have seemed close to reaching a deal only for an unexpected circumstance to arise, causing a significant reversal during the peace talks. In late 2022, after intensive negotiations in Washington and Prague, Azerbaijan refused to appear in Brussels and instead launched a blockade of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Azerbaijan did the same at the end of 2023, when despite mounting hopes for an imminent agreement President Aliyev refused to attend the European Political Community (EPC) summit in October 2023 in Granada and the trilateral Armenia–Azerbaijan–European Union summit in Brussels.
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- Friday, 26 July 2024, 15:29
A New and Technological Approach to Elections Begins The Central Election Commission held a meeting and a series of events today, July 26th. The primary agenda item was the preparation and high-level accomplishment of the upcoming elections for the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and the Councils of People's Deputies in full compliance with the Constitution and laws.
According to Article 128 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, elections for the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and the Councils of People's Deputies are scheduled to take place on the first Sunday of the third ten-day period of October in the year their term expires. Considering that the term of the deputies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and the Councils of People's Deputies ends in 2024, the elections will be held on October 27th of this year, and the election campaign will begin on July 26th, as decided by the Central Election Commission. READ MORE
- Friday, 26 July 2024, 15:28
Uzbekistan: civil society institutions — a bridge between society and state Anvarjon Mirkomilov, Head of Department
Development Strategy Center
Today, civil society institutions, particularly non-governmental non-profit organizations (NGOs), play an active role in Uzbekistan's development and the implementation of the “Uzbekistan – 2030” strategy. It is impossible to build a new Uzbekistan without organizing the activities of NGOs, the most important institution of civil society, according to democratic principles. On this basis, effective work is being done to support NGOs and civil society institutions, strengthen social partnerships with state bodies, implement effective public oversight, and improve the legal framework governing this area.
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- Saturday, 29 June 2024, 18:01
Environmental Challenges: The Future of Human Rights and Sustainable Solutions in a Changing World This is the name of the next topic of the IV Samarkand Forum on Human Rights, a traditional international conference to be held in our country on June 13-14, 2024. It is planned to hold three plenary meetings offline and online within the framework of the forum.
The main goal of this year's Samarkand forum is to discuss issues related to the impact of climate change on human rights on a broad scale and on the basis of information analysis. In addition to gaining the necessary knowledge in this field, the participants of the international conference will have the opportunity to exchange experience and get acquainted with the best practices within the international community.
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- Wednesday, 12 June 2024, 23:09
Representative of Uzbekistan elected to UN Human Rights Committee for the first time in history On May 29, at the UN headquarters in New York, during the 40th session of the states parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), elections were held for nine members of the Human Rights Committee (HRC) for the 2025-2028 term.
Representatives from 16 states, including Burundi, Georgia, Egypt, India, Spain, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Lithuania, Morocco, Paraguay, the Republic of Korea, North Macedonia, Togo, Uzbekistan, Croatia, Ethiopia, and South Africa, competed for the nine seats in the HRC.
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- Monday, 3 June 2024, 22:30
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