“We are very proud that Azerbaijan is hosting the founding conference of the Global South NGOs Platform and that we are part of this event that brought together countries from the Global South,” said Aygun Aliyeva, Executive Director of the Agency for State Support to NGOs, as she addressed the Forum "Solidarity in Action: Strengthening Global South NGOs for a New and Fair World," which opened in Baku on Monday.

Aliyeva noted that the forum, which brings together more than 700 organizations, offers an unparalleled platform for high-level debates on economic, political and social issues. She added: "Unfortunately, many countries of the Global South still face challenges such as colonialism and poverty. Azerbaijan, however, constantly makes its worthy contribution to sustainable development. To help prevent such situations, our country has always stood by these states in all areas and implemented numerous international initiatives together with NGOs.”

Highlighting that Azerbaijan systematically supports the active participation of local NGOs in international projects, Aliyeva outlined a number of initiatives that have been successfully realized to implement joint projects. She welcomed the growing interest of Global South NGOs in cooperating with Azerbaijan.

Aygun Aliyeva underscored that the memorandums of cooperation to be signed during the event would contribute to expanding joint activities between NGOs in the future. She stressed the importance of solidarity and joint action to achieve tangible results, adding: “We must remember that to achieve concrete outcomes, we need to act in solidarity and take joint measures.”