Domestic

Domestic

Azerbaijani President makes speech in BSEC 20th Anniversary Summit in Istanbul

26 June 2012 17:39 (UTC +04:00)

President of Azerbaijan said that the date of the establishment of BSEC coincide with the day of declaration of Azerbaijanâ€™s independence. Azerbaijan celebrated the 20th anniversary of the establishment of independence last year: â€œAzerbaijan has actively took part in the regional projects from the independence up to now. Azerbaijan is very active in the work of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. Our country developed and carried out basic reforms especially, in economic sphere. Our country successfully implemented economic reconstruction and infrastructure projects during the last few years.â€

Azerbaijani president said that gross domestic product increased by 3 times in the country over last 8 years, poverty decreased 5 times and more than million working places have been opened. State debt composed 7% of the gross domestic product. Economic crisis in the world and Europe didnâ€™t impact Azerbaijan so. Three leading ratings agencies of the world increased Azerbaijanâ€™s ratings over last months.

President Ilham Aliyev also said Azerbaijan put forward initiatives and specific projects have had a lot of support to regional cooperation, in particular the economic sphere: "Azerbaijan has extensive economic relations with many countries of the BSEC Member States, increasing trade with these countries. At the same time, Azerbaijan has been active in co-operation with countries in the Caspian, Black and Mediterranean seas, and put forward our initiatives become a reality. Performed and completed in the field of energy and transport projects, we can say, energy and transportation have changed the map of the region",- the head of the State said.

The President also noted that the commissioning in 2006 of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and in 2007 the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, the region has created a new energy corridor. "Of our three oil pipelines pumped oil at two Black Sea ports, one on the Mediterranean port. At the same time, Azerbaijan has become a transit country for energy resources. Thus, there was a deepening of the cooperation. Azerbaijan will continue to play an active role in co-operation between the countries of the Caspian, Black Sea and the Mediterranean basin", - he said.

The Head of the State expressed that at the end of this year is expected to complete construction within a larger project. "After passing the operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project, we thereby restore the ancient Silk Road. This road connects not only the three countries, but in broad terms the two continents - Europe and Asia. We successfully complete this project. I remember five years ago during a speech at a meeting of the BSEC said that soon will begin construction of the railway. Now I can say that by the end of this year, construction work will be completed next year, and this project will be operational", - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.