Domestic

Domestic

Azerbaijani President: â€œStruggle against corruption and bribery must be more seriousâ€

10 February 2011 08:28 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan fulfilled all duties in the fields of poverty reduction and economic developmentâ€, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during the meeting with public community of Gazakh region of Azerbaijan, APA reports.

The head of state said the state program on socio-economic development of the regions were implemented successfully and led to current realities.

President emphasized that the general situation is well: â€œThe plans are fulfilled, the economy is rising. The achievements in energy sector and particularly in oil and gas field increase our financial resources and strengthen our positions in the world. We have large monetary resources now and feel very secure and comfortable. All of works we have done show that the planned work brings results. But we must not be satisfied with these achievements, we have to do much work and strengthen our economy and social policy. Last year minimum salary and basic part of the pensions were increased. Average monthly salary in Azerbaijan is above 400 dollars. But we can not be satisfied with this. All of our efforts should be directed to welfare of Azerbaijani citizens. Poverty reduction dropped four times from 44 percent to 9.1 percent as a result of work done in the past seven years. But it is also too much. More than 900 thousands of jobs were created in the past seven years and 700 thousands of them are permanent jobs. The problem of unemployment was almost resolved but there is still unemployment. We will attach special attention to these fields in 2011 and next years to solve all problemsâ€.

The head of state said great attention would be attached to the development of ownership: â€œThe ownership class is formed in Azerbaijan and I regularly meet with the owners. Even I lead them to foreign visits that we can reach international markets. We are also working politically that the Azerbaijani business people can reach the international markets. The government allocates soft loans and subsidies to develop the ownership in the country. Of course, the political support is very important. Recently very serious measures have been taken for prevention of injustice actions against the owners. These measures are taken regularly, but I consider that we have to strengthen our efforts in this sphere. Groundless interferences and unnecessary inspections should be stopped. Azerbaijan established its economy completely on the basis of market principles. The rules of market economy require strengthening the class of owners. We have large industrial enterprises â€“ oil and gas and other enterprises. But the development of ownership, middle and small ownership is important for the development of the country. For this purpose, we have allocated soft loans via the National Fund of Ownership Support in recent years. We have done all of these works and there should be transparency and justice in all of these fieldsâ€.

President noted that great work was done in Azerbaijan, but more should be done.
â€œWe must modernize our country, raise it to the level of the developed countries in terms of political and economic reforms. Public control must be much stronger, struggle against corruption and bribery must be more serious. The instructions that I gave at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers early this year are being fulfilled in connection with these issues. I ask all citizens of Azerbaijan to inform the Presidential Administration, other relevant bodies, local authorities about injustice, groundless demands so that we can eliminate these shortcomings soon,â€ he said.

The head of state said there are great prospects.
â€œAzerbaijan must become a developed country, this is our goal. Though there are not many developed countries in the world, I consider that we have got a chance to fall under this group for all criteria. Only economic achievements are not sufficient for this. All spheres in the country must be measured by the highest criteria. Social security, infrastructural projects, maintenance of the principle of social justice, judicial reforms and fair decisions, transparency in the executive bodies, maximum transparency in the entire financial system, public control, development of democracy â€“ countries are considered developed at the cost of the achievements in these spheres. We must follow this way, we have no other way. Of course the political will of only the leadership is not sufficient for this. The entire public, all citizens must act together. We must serve the same purpose â€“ development of our country, further rise of social welfare and economy. In this case, our long-term development strategy will produce results,â€ he said.