Verona Forum Resolution: no alternative to equal and inclusive international co-operation
Participants of the 15th Verona Eurasian Economic Forum adopted a resolution following their two-day meeting in Baku
“The holding of the 15th Verona Eurasian Economic Forum in Baku opens a new page in its glorious history. For a decade and a half, the forum has become a very important, necessary, authoritative platform for communication between entrepreneurs, government representatives and the expert community of our countries. It has its own geography. Initially, interested circles of only a few states were involved in its work, but the scales have expanded immeasurably by now. All those who believe in Greater Eurasia strive to tell about themselves, their plans, approaches, opportunities and needs, no matter to which region of our super region they belong: Europe, the Greater Middle East or Southeast Asia, Transcaucasia or Central Asia, or the Indo-Pacific region. This year, we have enjoyed an opportunity to get acquainted with the opinion of our colleagues from Mongolia, India, China, and other states," the resolution reads.
The Verona Eurasian Economic Forum agenda has undergone an equally great evolution. “At the beginning, its core topic focused on the state of affairs in the field of energy, energy security and co-operation within Greater Europe – which, has unfortunately, not taken place. We are now giving priority attention to the future of energy, and several sections were devoted to its discussion in Baku. We also devoted no less time to discussions in the sectoral context: finance, technology and industry, transport and logistics. More broadly, we talked about the fate of the world, the degradation of international relations, the place of man in the modern world and concern for his well-being, the realism of the climate agenda and the emerging new socio-economic model of development, its incompatibility with voluntarism and irresponsibility in international affairs," the resolution adds. “The representative nature of the Verona Eurasian Economic Forum and the paramount importance for our entire super region of the issues that we are discussing gives us the right to appeal to our countries and peoples and hope that our call will be heard. It is necessary that it be followed by practical conclusions and concrete actions.”
The document continues, “There is no alternative to broad, equal and inclusive international co-operation, and economic diplomacy plays an important role in this. All countries and all regions of the planet equally need such co-operation. Until recently, the states understood this perfectly well, appreciated and supported it. Thanks to such co-operation, the G20 managed to stop the first global financial and economic crisis of 2008 relatively quickly, but this co-operation has been seriously affected now. It needs to be restored, and this is an absolute imperative. We call on all countries and all peoples who cherish their common future to join efforts in establishing broad, equal and inclusive international co-operation. Dialogue and not confrontation, development and not regression are needed.”
The Verona Eurasian Economic Forum participants are convinced that, at the cost of endless sacrifices and losses, numerous wars and conflicts, humanity has approved ‘pacta sunt servanda’ as the highest value of international communication; this states that contracts must be fulfilled. Strict adherence to this assertion, the obligatory fulfilment of concluded contracts, the sanctity of this word create a situation of legal certainty, respect for each other, and mutual trust. According to the resolution, neither long-term economic projects, nor normal entrepreneurship, nor planning of ordinary human life are possible without them, without the inviolability of private property and protection of the open market economy principles.
“On paper, everyone agrees that the person, his interests and needs should be put at the head of economic development. Everyone supports the statement that normal economic development should go hand in hand with the development of the human personality, spiritual, intellectual and moral principles. Inadmissibly little is being done for this. In most cases, only beautiful slogans are proclaimed, followed by nothing. This can no longer be tolerated. We call on everyone to unite with us and put human care at the forefront of people's diplomacy, public diplomacy, and business diplomacy. Our goal is for this criterion to be decisive when making any political decisions," the resolution states.
As the document reads, the holding of the Verona Eurasian Economic Forum in Baku is only the first step. It will be followed by its organisation in other centres of our super region. Baku was not chosen accidentally: it is located in the heart of Eurasia. Due to its culture, traditions, history and political geography, Baku is located both in Asia and in Europe. For many years, Azerbaijan has been able to pursue a multi-vector policy of co-operation and interaction with a variety of countries and groups of states of the super region.
“We will be guided by the same considerations when choosing other venues for the forum. It will go deep into Eurasia. Thanks to this initiative, we plan to mobilise the widest public international support for our appeal. We are convinced that Greater Eurasia has a huge creative potential, and our task is to jointly put it at the service of peaceful creative development," the resolution states.
