Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova took the floor at the UN high-level meeting ‘The Role of Zero Waste as a Transformative Solution in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ in the course of her current work trip to NYC.

The meeting in question was dedicated to the UN resolution based on the ‘Zero Waste’ Initiative of Emine Erdoghan, First Lady of the Republic of Türkiye.

Emine Erdoghan who herself spoke at the same gathering as well said that people were part of our Planet’s existing diversity, one which rests upon balanced and profound mutual connexions and, as seen from this perspective, the future sustainability of the Earth that is a home to millions of living creates requires a sensitive approach and it is the responsibility of each of us to protect the Globe. Mrs Erdoghan touched upon such global-scale problems as those of waste, climatic change and shortage of food, amongst others, Mrs Erdoghan emphasised that Humankind should combine efforts to overcome those complications. The world is more than five in this case just as it is with regards to other matters, according to Türkiye’s First Lady.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova who spoke next stressed the significance of the matter which the meeting covered, adding that environmental protection was of utmost importance of all the persistent challenges faced by Humanity. It is our shared responsibility to transform the world into a better place for the current and future generations to live in, which context adds weight to the ‘Zero Waste’ Initiative that Türkiye’s First Lady Emine Erdogan put forth in 2017 at the national level and that later enjoyed world-level support in the shape of a special resolution of the UN General Assembly, said the Chair of Azerbaijan’s parliament.

The Republic of Azerbaijan demonstrated its support for this resolution by co-sponsoring it. At the same time, First Lady of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva signed the ‘Declaration on Global Commitment to Zero Waste for the World, Our Common Home’.

An integrated approach to environmental protection ensuring extensive use of all the available components appears to be the only effective way to succeed in this cause, so the Sustainable Development Goals act as a framework of our joint efforts made to achieve joint goals, according to Sahiba Gafarova. This is a priority with Azerbaijan as well, what with our country having adopted a national plan and national strategies placing a special stress on environmental protection and standing in accord with the most essential SDG tasks and plans. A clean environment and green development have been identified as one of the five priority areas of a new development strategy until 2030 whilst the 2022-2026 mid-term socio-economic development strategy of Azerbaijan envisages continued development of efficient waste management systems, compilation of a waste database and an electronic information system to go with it, and enlargement of the waste recycling scope. 

All the countries have the moral and legal obligations to protect the environment, again, for the present and future generations. Unfortunately, not every country actually honours its obligations, however. The close to 30 years of Armenian occupation of 20% of the territory of Azerbaijan recognised as such internationally was accompanied by environmental terror. Armenia had destroyed our forests and natural preserves, the natural resources, and polluted the soil and the rivers – including those trans-border rivers that flow from Armenia to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan began restoration and revival of her lands on a large scale after recovering them from the Armenian occupation in 2020. Towns and villages are being built in keeping with the ‘smart town and village’, ‘green energy’, ‘zero emissions’ and ‘zero waste’ concepts in Garabagh and East Zangazur. The village of Aghali to which the former internally displaced persons have returned already is the first successful outcome of this approach, Sahiba Gafarova was saying.

She concluded her speech by reiterating the importance of this meeting and wishing it every success in its eventual work.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis