Shepard added that sitting to the north of Iran, to the east of Georgia, and to the south of Russia, Azerbaijan has always been a crossroads of nations, cultures, and religions.
The country was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road, the article said.
“Azerbaijan is enacting a “multi-vector” policy of establishing friendly relations with countries from all sides of the geopolitical tracks, so to speak, concurrently dealing with Israel and Iran, the U.S. and China, Ukraine and Russia,” Shepard said.
Pope Francis also congratulated Azerbaijan for creating a religiously tolerant atmosphere and for cultivating a society that has largely avoided extremism, the article said.
Shepard added that Pope Francis praised Azerbaijan as a model for a world divided by violent extremism for the sake of encouraging religious tolerance in the region where Catholics are a minority.
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