At the initiative of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Belgrade, a round table titled “South Caucasus: challenges and opportunities for cooperation” was held on February 26, 2025, at the Zira Hotel, bringing together diplomats, analysts, and professors from Serbia and numerous other countries. The gathering was organized on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the genocide in Khojaly, in memory of the civilian casualties.
Among the speakers was Professor Dr Violeta Rašković Talović, director of the Center for Strategic Prognosis and Dean of the Faculty of International Politics and Security of the Union-Nikola Tesla University, who in her address emphasized that the relations between Serbia and Azerbaijan are based on mutual respect, understanding and support, and that they have reached the level of strategic partnership in the last decade.
Speaking about energy security as one of the key issues of contemporary international relations, Rašković Talović emphasized that Azerbaijan proved to be a reliable and relevant partner of Serbia. She reminded that the cooperation between the two countries takes place in a wide range of areas – from economy and infrastructure to investments in energy – and that the energy transition has become the central topic of global political and security discussions.
She also pointed out that Serbia is actively working to ensure secure sources of energy and connecting with international markets, and that her faculty, in cooperation with the Institute for Political Studies, is organizing the international conference “Geopolitics of Energy – The Green Way”, dedicated to exactly those topics.
Rašković Talović also shed light on the academic cooperation between Serbia and Azerbaijan, recalling the signed Memorandum of Cooperation between the Faculty of International Politics and Security and ADA University of Baku, which opened space for student exchange, joint conferences, and research projects. The first students from Serbia will soon be staying in Baku, which, as she pointed out, represents a “modest but important contribution to connecting our countries through science and education”.
During the meeting, the speakers also analyzed the wider geopolitical context of the South Caucasus, including energy corridors, regional stability, and the process of normalization of relations in the post-conflict period.
The event ended with a discussion on the possibilities of deepening cooperation between Serbia and Azerbaijan in the political, economic, and educational domains, and the presentation of Prof. Rašković Talović was recognized as one of the most notable, because it combined academic insight and practical guidelines for future cooperation between the two countries.
