"Azerbaijan urges the OSCE Secretariat, current and future chairmanships, as well as executive structures to pay due attention to tackling challenges posed by the conflicts and re-double their efforts aimed at elimination of harsh consequences of conflicts in all three dimensions", Azerbaijan’s permanent mission to the OSCE said, APA reports.

The permanent mission made this statement in response to the Secretary-General’s presentation of 2017 Programme Outline at the Permanent Council’s meeting on May 12.

The Azerbaijani side noted that the substantive support to efforts of facilitation of the resolution of conflicts will remain priority for the Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC).

The permanent mission recalled that the OSCE is the only internationally mandated organization for the solution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

The OSCE should keep the conflict high on its agenda through facilitating comprehensive discussions on various aspects of the conflict and providing effective guidance to the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and its co-chairmen, the permanent mission said, noting that it will appreciate to hear more on the plans of the CPC with regard to resolution of the conflicts in the OSCE area.

The Azerbaijani side also expressed regret over the lack of proper attention to the issue of IDPs and refugees in OSCE activities.

“In light of existing wide-range commitments related to IDPs and refugees, the OSCE and its relevant executive structures should allocate adequate resources to activities aimed at finding solution to problems of this vulnerable group. We strongly encourage current and future chairmanships, CPC, as well as relevant executive structures to take necessary measures within their mandate to rectify this gap,” said the statement.

“Peculiarities of host countries, in particular their track record in observing basic principles of the Helsinki Final Act, such as respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of the internationally recognized borders of states should be taken into account while crafting mandates of respective field missions and designing their programmatic activities,” the statement said.

The permanent mission stressed the necessity for the OSCE, in particular the Chairmanship and the CPC to keep an effective oversight of the activities of the OSCE Office in Yerevan with a view to ensuring that assistance provided to Armenia through the field mission will in no circumstances be utilized in occupied territories of Azerbaijan or serve to consolidation of the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories by Armenia.