Speech by Ilham Aliyev at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Annual Meetings of the Islamic Development Bank Group

AZERBAIJAN, June 18 - - Dear Mr. Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Group,

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen,

I greet all the participants of the Annual Meeting. Welcome to Azerbaijan.

I am very grateful to the Group, its chairman, and all the team for selecting Azerbaijan as the host country for the Annual Meeting. It’s a big honor for us. Once again, it demonstrates the strong bonds between us. I’d like to personally thank Mr. Chairman, Dr. Al Jasser, for his continuous support for the reforms in Azerbaijan, for his vision in moving the bank to the future and for his cordial attitude to our country.

Dr. Al Jasser has already visited Azerbaijan many times and has also twice visited the liberated territories, which is of special pleasure for all of us.

As you know, Azerbaijan hosts the Annual Meeting for the second time, which also is a clear demonstration of our close ties, the level of cooperation, and the scope of joint activity. I remember very well 2010, when we were the host country for the first time.

And that Annual Meeting gave a strong boost to our partnership with the Group and also to the reforms Azerbaijan was implementing in order to diversify its economy, conduct reforms, and reduce dependence on the energy sector. Many things have changed since that time in Azerbaijan and around. One of the things that has not changed is Azerbaijan’s stable, successful development.

This is the demonstration of the policy we conduct, a policy based on our national interests, on good relations with all the actors on the global arena and on a strong commitment to our successful development. Successful development is based on a variety of factors. Azerbaijan is only 35 years independent. And except for the first two years of war, occupation, humanitarian catastrophe, civil war and other difficulties, the rest was a stable development of the country, and this is one of the main pre-requisites for success for every country. Where stability is undermined, we cannot talk even about development. So stability - political, economic, and social stability, which today is a reality of Azerbaijan - is not only the main factor for our development, but also it is a factor in regional development. Because with strong ties on a regional scale and also on the global arena, Azerbaijan has already become an important actor in many aspects.

Our independent foreign policy gained strong support in the international community. The number of our friends is growing year after year. And the support from the international community is reflected in very illustrative moments when our candidacy was among the list of candidates for different institutions and we got overwhelming support. That was the case when we were a candidate for the United Nations Security Council some years ago, and got the support of 155 countries.

That was the case when we were a candidate for the chair of the Non-Aligned Movement, the second largest after the United Nations international institution, consisting of 120 countries, and unanimously we were elected, and not only elected, but also our chairmanship was unanimously prolonged. So this is a demonstration of international support. Sometimes, when we hear words such as international community, some may think it's kind of a limited group of countries, developed countries, which, how to say, have awarded themselves this name. But this is a wrong approach.

International community is the whole world, countries, members of the United Nations, and to gain the support of the absolute majority of countries of the world, this really demonstrates, as I already said, respect based on practical steps, not only based on statements. We were a successful host country for many international events since the 2010 ISDB Group Annual Meeting. Among the recent ones, I would name the successful COP29 held in 2024 with remarkable results. And also, last month’s World Urban Forum, one of the big international gatherings, also was successfully held in Azerbaijan, and many more are to come.

So this once again demonstrates a diversified agenda of our activity. Azerbaijan became an important actor on the global energy arena, initiating, financing, and implementing large-scale energy infrastructure projects, which connect countries across Eurasia, which provide the necessary energy supply to those who need it, especially in times when energy supply chains are not safe, and when energy security becomes one of the main factors for every country's national security.

A very positive investment policy allowed us to attract billions of investments in different areas, including in the energy area, and the construction of pipelines which connect the Caspian Sea with the Mediterranean, with the Black Sea, and which connect Caspian offshore gas fields with European markets.

This really needed a lot of effort, diplomacy, political conduct, good relations with neighbors, with the neighbors of our neighbors, financing, a good reputation, and a resilient economy. So the combination of these factors allowed Azerbaijan now to become one of the important energy suppliers.

With respect to the supply of natural gas, today Azerbaijan is number one from the point of view of the geography of gas pipeline supply. We supply natural gas to 16 countries, and their number is growing year after year and will continue to grow. Oil supplies cover even more countries, and this is all to the benefit of producers, transit countries, and consumers.

So, a kind of teamwork, which has been created, really is unique in the sense of the complexity of the implementation of projects from the point of view of financing, the point of view of terrain, the point of view of different political obstacles, which we had in front of us.

Investing largely in infrastructure, we also concentrated not only on infrastructure inside the country, but also on infrastructure inside the country, which has an international dimension. In other words, we tried to transform Azerbaijan from a landlocked country, as you know, we don't have access to the world’s oceans, to an international transportation hub, using our geography as a foundation for building strong transportation infrastructure. Because geography, of course, is important. But if it is not added by infrastructure, it doesn’t mean a lot. So today the East-West and North-South corridors crossing Azerbaijan provide very important supply routes for a growing number of countries. And if one just looks at the map, one can see that Azerbaijan is situated between Europe and Asia. And geographical location, of course, is depending on the agenda, can be a headache, or can be an advantage. In our case, it’s really an advantage not only for us, but for many more countries. And today the corridors, which I already mentioned, crossing Azerbaijan really create a kind of connected and coordinated transportation artery for many countries. And of course, a lot needs to be done, and this is, by the way, one of our priorities.

Economic development of Azerbaijan was positive, and, as I said, economy is stable. We managed to attract more than $350 billion of direct investments, almost half from foreign sources in the last 20 years. Our investment plans continue because today investors look for stable places. Unfortunately, as time passes, the number of stable locations does not grow. This is unfortunate—today's reality. Therefore, good investment climate, investment protections, a legislative base, and also already accomplished projects allow us to attract investments now not only in energy but also in the non-energy sector, which is, by the way, one of our priorities. We spoke about that 16 years ago at the ISDB Annual Meeting in Baku, and since that time we managed to transform.

So today the share of the non-oil and gas sector in our GDP is more than 70%, which is a remarkable achievement, but still we have to work hard in order to continue to change the balance of oil, gas, and the non-oil and gas sector in our export. Today, the absolute majority of our export is energy resources. So we are working very hard in order to change the situation, and for that, of course, we need more reforms, more investments, and also we need new markets, and this is a problem. Because the struggle for markets has become very active, I would use this word. So diversification of economy is already a reality, but we have to continue, definitely.

We managed to reduce our foreign debt, that was a target put by me some years ago, and we achieved it, and even maybe more than we planned. Today our foreign debt is only 6% of our GDP, so we started to borrow again. There was a break, but we started to borrow again, and of course, the first financial institution we approached was the Islamic Development Bank, because of our strong connections, because of our shared history, and a very productive and constructive relationship.

During the meeting, many agreements will be signed in order to give a boost to new infrastructure projects, which in their turn will lead to added value in the non-oil sector. So, a low level of foreign debt, of course, is a big advantage. So, we can borrow more, but we will do it very cautiously. Though today our foreign currency exchange reserves exceed our foreign debt by almost 20 times. By this figure, I think Azerbaijan is one of the leading countries with a very stable financial situation, a balanced budget, and what also is appreciated by the leading rating agencies like Moody's and Fitch, which recently upgraded our ratings to investment grade, and with the prognosis/forecast being positive and stable. So we don't foresee any complications with respect to our economic development, and in line with that, our social programs, which are large scale, go hand in hand. We have implemented several social support packages in the last several years, which cover almost more than 30% of our population. Reduction of poverty and unemployment also was one of the targets, which has been successfully achieved. So today the level of poverty and unemployment is around 5%, and issues related to employment always will be in the center of our attention, as in any other country with a growing population, because when population grows, we all know, and fortunately, in the Muslim countries, this tendency continues. We all know, but at the same time, it brings along with it a lot of challenges, because you have to create jobs, you have to create more social infrastructure and infrastructure in general, so this will always be in the center of our attention, so as to keep the level of unemployment very low.

Of course, one of the main changes, which happened since we had a meeting in 2010, was the restoration of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Our lands were occupied in the beginning of the 1990s, that created a humanitarian catastrophe. We had 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons in the beginning of the 1990s. At that time, our population was 8 million, so one in eight was a refugee, homeless, jobless, without any means for living. That was a real humanitarian catastrophe, and we were left alone. Armenia, which committed war crimes, the Khojaly genocide, destroyed our cities and villages, conducted urbicide on the occupied territories, was not sanctioned.

Today we hear about sanctions—sanctions, sanctions—we hear every day. As soon as something happens, immediately sanctions are imposed, but no one imposed sanctions on Armenia, and this is a clear demonstration of double standards, a clear demonstration of the difference between proclaimed so-called values and real politics. If Armenia was sanctioned because of violation of international law, occupation of the territory of a sovereign country, committing war crimes, then the conflict between two countries wouldn't have lasted so long.

It lasted for almost 30 years, and during these 30 years there were numerous rounds of useless, endless, meaningless negotiations, which had only one aim for those who were providing so-called umbrella for negotiations, only one aim: to keep our lands under Armenian occupation forever. That was the goal of those who had a mandate to achieve peace and achieve liberation of our territories. I mean the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, three countries, three permanent members of the UN Security Council—France, Russia, United States—and can you imagine that these countries could not force Armenia to liberate Azerbaijani territory? No, of course not. They didn't want. They wanted our land to be under Armenian occupation. That was a joint decision, but we changed those plans.

We've been very hopeful in the beginning of the negotiation process, and me personally, I have been President since 2003, and for 17 years I was involved, as I already said, in these useless, as it turned out, negotiations, trying to find a peaceful solution, trying to persuade—you know, big countries—that truth is on our side: “We are right. We are occupied. Look at the map. Look where Armenian forces are standing on our territory.” And what we heard in response? “Go and agree.” One message. Second message: there is no military solution. Third message: you cannot start a war. Fourth message: if you start a war, you will be sanctioned, and many more. I don't want to take much of your time.

So, when we realized that those who make decisions in the world decided that our land should be illegally occupied forever, we made our decision, and we changed all the plans. The 2020 Patriotic War lasted 44 days, ended in the capitulation of Armenia. We liberated a large part of the occupied territories, but not all of it. Then, in 2023, we put a final stop, a final full stop, and now the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan are fully restored, and this is accepted by the whole world. And after that, we offered Armenia peace. We, the winners, the country and the people who suffered from occupation and devastation, offered them peace. And now we have this peace.

So already for almost one year, we live in peace, and we see the benefits. We will never forget what Armenian occupation forces have done to our people, to our cities. We will never forget how they destroyed 65 mosques and kept animals, including pigs, in our mosques in order to insult our feelings. That cannot be forgotten. We will never forget the Khojaly genocide, but we need to look to the future, and we took revenge on the battlefield, and that's enough. That war or wars should have stopped, and we stopped it. As a strong side, we stopped it and offered peace. So now peace is reality.

Immediately after we liberated our territories, we started a large-scale reconstruction program. Today, already in Garabagh and East Zangazur, almost 90,000 people live, work, and study. We allocated from our state budget more than $15 billion to different infrastructure and housing projects, but from all sources, the volume of financing to liberated territories is close to $17 billion.

Large-scale infrastructure projects are being implemented, including water storages, water canals, power stations, three international airports already commissioned, tunnels, and bridges. We are grateful to the Islamic Development Bank Group for supporting our efforts in the reconstruction of the liberated territories. This is one of the main priorities now for our government, but not the only one. I'm sure that during this time of interaction of the Group, there have been a lot of discussions on that.

I just want to underline a couple of our priorities for the future. One of them, as I already said, is connectivity. We need to continue to transform Azerbaijan into a transportation hub. Our plan is to double the volume of cargo going through Azerbaijan. Today it's about 14–15 million tons. We look at doubling this figure. Of course, not everything will depend on us, because it will also depend on the geopolitical situation and also the situation in the neighborhood, but these are our plans.

Our plans for food security are very clear. With the recently adopted state program on agricultural development, we are planning to achieve maximum self-sufficiency in the main consumption products. Irrigation—and I'm grateful to ISDB for helping us with irrigation—building canals and water storages will allow farmers to have access to water and to achieve higher productivity of their products.

Renewables have big potential. A contract signed already with international and local companies will provide us with eight gigawatts of solar and wind energy by 2032. This is the minimum. This is what has already been signed, not MOUs, but contracts, but it will be more. So now we are working on transmission lines, on how to export, because we will not need as much, as I said. So, transmission lines to those destinations which need energy, and this is primarily Europe, definitely, because everybody knows that they will need electrical energy for many, many years to come.

So all this is in our strategic priority plans, and many other areas. I'm sure that a large part of our plans has already been communicated to the audience. I don't want to take much of your time. Once again, I would like to express gratitude for selecting Azerbaijan as the host country, for being with us, for your support, and wish the Annual Meeting success. Thank you very much.