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4 years passed since establishment of SAM

16 November 2011 08:32 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. 4 years have passed since the establishment of the Center for Strategic Studies (SAM) which was founded with the decree of the President of Azerbaijan Republic on November 12, 2007. With support of the state and efforts of the knowledgeable staff SAM has turned into the strongest think tank in Azerbaijan during these years.
32 scientific researches and studies were carried out, 14 international conferences, around 100 roundtables were organized during the last 4 years and SAM representatives participated in about 100 international events abroad during the mentioned period. Within the implemented work main directions were the issues such as domestic and foreign policy of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, energy strategy of Azerbaijan, political and economic development of the country, national security affairs.
The results of the Center for Strategic Studiesâ€™ research activity are conveyed to the public attention through the regularly published journals and articles. Analysis and forecasts of the local and foreign experts are reflected in the journals of SAM such as Azerbaijan Focus, Strategic Analysis, Analytical View, SAM Overview, SAM Comments, Caucasus International.
With support and direct participation of SAM around 10 books were published in Azerbaijan and abroad. â€œPolitical Parties in Azerbaijanâ€, â€œSouth Caucasus: Territorial Integrity, Geopolitical Struggle and Energyâ€, â€œNagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Fair Peace or Inevitable Warâ€, â€œA Crucible of Nations: the Geopolitics of the Caucasusâ€, â€œRussia-Azerbaijan Relations during 20 Years: History and Perspectivesâ€ and others are included into the list of published books.
A number of international and local events were held by SAM during the mentioned period. â€œSecurity Challenges in the South Caucasusâ€, â€œAzerbaijan and Eastern Partnershipâ€, â€œCyber and National Securityâ€, â€œClimate Change and Renewable energy Resources in Wider Black Sea Areaâ€ and other events caught attention of the world expert community. â€œThird Forum of Organization of Islamic Cooperation Member Countriesâ€™ Think Tanksâ€ to be held in 2012 in cooperation with Turkish Asian Center for Strategic Studies will be the one of the important events for discussing regional and global political processes.
Several well-known politicians and experts such as Special Envoy of the United States Secretary of State for Eurasian Energy, ambassador Richard Morningstar, the president of the STRATFOR analytical center of the US George Friedman, the vice-president of the â€œCohen Groupâ€ Marc Grossman, the leading expert of the â€œHeritage Foundationâ€ Ariel Cohen, the expert of the European Policy Center Amanda Paul, the editor in chief of the journal of â€œRussia in Global Politicsâ€ Fyodor Lukyanov and others visited Azerbaijan at the invitation of the Center, they were main speakers in the events organized by SAM.
With regard to international relations, only this year memorandums of cooperation were signed with leading think tanks of Turkey, Russia and Italy. It is planned to formalize cooperation with a number of scientific institutions from Argentina, Greece and Poland in future as well.
Through the Visiting Research Fellow Program of SAM the experts of Columbia University, Sorbonne University, Helsinki University, STRATFOR, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, Carnegie Moscow Center and other leading universities and think-tanks conducted research in Azerbaijan. The SAM experts also carried out research work in those think tanks and universities as visiting research fellows.
Since its establishment SAM has been open to all institutions and organizations, media representatives not depending on their political position and views. SAM is active in social networks as well and through the Facebook and Twitter pages updated on daily basis the Center conveys to the public attention the latest information about its activity. It is worth to mention that for the first time in Azerbaijan the live Twitter conference â€œThe Transformation of Media: Transition from Traditional Media to New Mediaâ€ was held by SAM. At the same time, SAM arranges foreign journalistsâ€™ visits to Azerbaijan within the framework of public diplomacy.
Currently the Center plans to research important and urgent problems of the modern world and to expand its field of analysis. The priorities for the future activity are to hold â€œoffensiveâ€ position in information war with Armenia and to deliver realities about the success of democratic and developing Azerbaijan to the international community.