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President Ilham Aliyev: â€œAzerbaijan can already be seen as a country with a bright futureâ€

28 April 2014 09:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ramiz Mikayiloglu – APA. “The participation of former heads of state and governments in the second Global Shared Societies Forum in Baku demonstrates the importance of the event. The Nizami Ganjavi International Center and the Club of Madrid have already become influential organizations. Nizami Ganjavi was a symbol of wisdom”, said Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev addressing the second Global Shared Societies Forum organized by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center and the Club of Madrid with the support of the State Committee on Work with Diaspora.

The Head of State noted that as a part of the forum important statements will be made and information will be provided about the works done and outstanding activities.

The President said 22 years are passing since Azerbaijan gained independence, great achievements were made during this short period: “At present, Azerbaijan has the fastest growing economy. We are trying to turn Azerbaijan into a modern state.”

President Aliyev noted that after two-year independence at the beginning of the last century, Azerbaijan was occupied by the Bolsheviks: “Azerbaijan was occupied and became a part of another state. Despite the fact that our territories were occupied, there was a civil war and the country faced political and economic crisis during the first years of our independence, we defended our independence and achieved development. Today, our state has a strong foundation, economic and political reforms were carried out and freedom was provided. Freedom of assembly and freedom of media have already become a part of our lives. Economic and political reforms should be carried out in parallel. There are countries that are facing the difficulties that we faced 20 years ago. We can be an example for those countries.”

The President underlined that we need to improve our economic strength to ensure longevity of Azerbaijan’s economy: “Azerbaijan can already be seen as a country with a bright future. Azerbaijan has a vision conception for 2020. Our financial standing is also stable. We have has a low level of external debt - 8 percent of GDP. Our economy is being diversified. About 2000 schools were built. If earlier migration occurred from Azerbaijan to other countries, then from the regions to Baku, but now we are trying to stop migration from the regions to Baku.”