Another breakthrough for Aliyev…To the applause of 133 countries.

As part of the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, a resolution entitled “Ensuring equal, accessible, timely and universal access to COVID-19 vaccines” was adopted on the initiative of Azerbaijan as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement on March 23, 2021.

Victory on the battlefields of the 44-day Patriotic War and subsequent tectonic shifts in the Caucasus and the Caspian region raised Azerbaijan’s international credibility to unprecedented heights.

Equally impressive is the current achievement, this time on the margins of diplomatic battles at the United Nations, where our country, as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, has launched an important and highly relevant humanitarian initiative affecting the interests of all countries of the world, regardless of economic performance and political orientation.

“The resolution calls on UN member states and other relevant bodies (international organizations, private sector representatives, members of civil society, etc.) take the necessary measures to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are distributed fairly to all States. At the same time, the resolution, which expresses support for international initiatives put forward to maintain the fair distribution of vaccines, including the COVAX initiative, removes unnecessary obstacles to the export of vaccines to other countries,” the official statement of the Azerbaijani diplomatic department reads.

Ilham Aliyev’s initiative, first announced by the head of state on February 1 in an interview with the state news agency Azertaj and emphasizing that Azerbaijan as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement will not ignore the unfair and unequal distribution of COVID vaccines among countries, has received support all over the world.

And there is no drop of exaggeration. The resolution was co-sponsored by 133 states, which is a very high indicator for the documents adopted by the UN Human Rights Council.

At the same time, the diplomatic department of Azerbaijan worked to implement the idea of the president of the country with maximum speed. In December 2020, at the initiative of Ilham Aliyev, a special session of the UN General Assembly on the COVID-19 pandemic was held as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Negotiations within the UN Human Rights Council were held in Geneva to reach consensus on the current resolution. And on 5 March 2021, the Non-Aligned Movement Coordination Office in New York adopted a communique on the issue.

Behind each of these words are the difficult working everyday life of the diplomatic corps of Azerbaijan, which demonstrated that it is quite capable of playing in the highest league of international relations, to promote initiatives of world importance.

Equally significant is the fact that Baku is quite capable of forming an international consensus on complex global issues – and this is not the most important thing in the event that opens up impressive prospects for Azerbaijan in the foreign policy arena.

Critics of Baku’s foreign policy, who predicted its collapse because of the “wrong” in their opinion, the choice of strategic partners, those who clicked on the “international isolation” of Azerbaijan – firmly sat in a puddle with their forecasts. 133 states have clearly shown that they believe Baku’s initiatives, moreover- they consider them deeply thought out and verified.

From these points, the event that took place on March 23, 2021, within the framework of the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, can be regarded as receiving an international quality mark by Azerbaijani diplomacy, a kind of certificate for the right to play in the top league of international relations.

This is a high honor, but also a high responsibility, because Baku will now be expected to take new, equally thoughtful and balanced international initiatives, and not only on the humanitarian track. But taking to the applause of the world public one frontier – you need to take the other. And, apparently, Azerbaijan is quite ready for this.

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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of The Tribune.