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President Ilham Aliyev: 2008 was a successful year for Azerbaijan

01 January 2009 10:01 (UTC +04:00)

Speaking of the countryâ€™s economic development, he said Azerbaijan has been the worldâ€™s number one in economic growth over the past four years.

"In 2008, our economy continued to develop at high pace. This is a great achievement enabling us to successfully resolve all economic, infrastructure and social questions. It was not surprising that in 2008, the World Bank named Azerbaijan as a top reformer in the world. It shows that the serious, deliberate economic reforms being implemented in Azerbaijan yield fruits, and Azerbaijan has great international prestige in the world.

The government provides support to development of entrepreneurship that will even increase in the years to come. Today, thanks to this support, private sector accounts for 85 percent of the economy. It is a great achievement demonstrating that political and economic reforms in Azerbaijan serve overall progress of our country and make it stronger. In the following years, we will continue paying much attention to economic development, and, I am convinced, will cope with all outstanding tasks," he added

According to him, the State Program of Socioeconomic Development of Regions implemented in the country was completed successfully.

"It is with a sense of great pride that I can say today that over the past five years, the number of new jobs has reached 750,000 giving a tremendous momentum to development of the regions. Our regions have seen big improvements due to realization of new infrastructure projects and construction of social objects. All this contributes to achieving overall progress in Azerbaijan, in all of its regions. Big attention has been paid to agrarian sector. The reforms being implemented in the agrarian sector, the government support for farmers, privileges and loans provided to them all are the factors, which ensure our accomplishments," he added

He said over the period 1,600 new secondary schools were built in the country, and this course would be continued in the coming years. New modern, well-equipped medical centers were built, practically, in all regions of the country, to provide people with high-quality medical services.

He stated that the implementation of a targeted social assistance program is underway that is of great importance as well.

"The number of those in poverty in Azerbaijan has reduced from 49 to 16 percent over the past five years, and I am convinced, it will be even less according to the 2008 outcomes. However, as long as there are citizens living in poverty, the government must do everything possible to help them.

That is why the targeted social assistance program will be continued, and I am sure that such social evil as poverty will be completely eliminated in Azerbaijan.

In 2008, minimum wage and pension were increased 50 percent, and this policy will be continued in the following years. We must do all possible for our citizens to live better," he added.

According to him, all necessary actions have been taken in 2008 to resolve social problems and increase employment of refugees and internally displaced persons.

"Today, no tent camp exists in Azerbaijan. New villages, roads, schools and medical centers have been built for them. In other word, we took an important step towards elimination of this big social evil. And we will continue this policy in the coming years," he underlined.

With regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, he said efforts were being made to achieve fair resolution to the problem within territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

"In 2008, the UN General Assembly adopted a very important resolution on the situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Although Minsk Group co-chairs who represent 3 out of 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council opposed this resolution, it was adopted by an overwhelming majority. On the one hand, it shows the strength of Azerbaijan and its enhancing prestige. On the other hand, it proves that justice must prevail.

The global community supports Azerbaijan, and I have no doubt that resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh will be based solely on the principle of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. There is no other way. The Azerbaijani state and the people of the country will never grant independence to Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh has been Azerbaijanâ€™s land from time immemorial, and we will make every effort to "restore" territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We can use both political, diplomatic and, if need be, military means. We have the right to do so. The international law provides for this.

As you know, much work has been done in this domain. Necessary actions were taken in 2008 to build the army. Our military spending has reached USD $2 billion and is going to rise in 2009. We are doing this; we must do this because we live in state of war, which is not yet over.

The first phase of the war has finished and we have to be ready to liberate our lands from invaders by any means. Military parade staged in 2008 demonstrated our military power to everybody," he underscored.

He added that Azerbaijan successfully continued its energy policy in 2008.

"We managed to solve energy security problems, and today, we are working to ensure energy security of other states. It brings us both political and economic benefits, opens up new opportunities for us. Oil and gas pipelines such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum are operating successfully. Azerbaijan successfully solved, one might say, all oil and gas problems and achieved diversification of export.

Today, Azerbaijanâ€™s oil and gas serve the country Azerbaijan already supplies 85% of its domestic gas consumption. It provides us with economic opportunities and increases our political power. The energy summit held in Baku in 2008 is a striking example of this.

The decisions made in Baku will not only strengthen Azerbaijanâ€™s energy policy but also help create a new situation in the region, Europe and the world in general.

We effectively use these opportunities and I have no doubt that Azerbaijanâ€™s successful oil strategy will be continued in the following years.

We are injecting huge funds in the energy sector. In the past five years, Azerbaijan has managed to build six power stations. Restoring and rebuilding some stations have increased our energy power.

In 2008, we embarked on construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which is of great historical significance. After long years of discussions, we managed to start construction of this railway," he added.

Appealing to the citizens, Ilham Aliyev congratulated them on the World Azerbaijanis Solidarity Day as well.

"This Day is marked by Azerbaijanis across the world. The Azerbaijan state continues its efforts to make the world Azerbaijanis better organized and strengthen their solidarity. I am glad that in the countries where Azerbaijanis live they carry out their activities within respective organizations. Azerbaijani Diaspora organizations are getting stronger and effectively work to ensure our countryâ€™s interests. At the same time, the Azerbaijan government makes every effort to solve the problems of Azerbaijanis living abroad. We will always support them, and Azerbaijanis living in other states may always rely on their homeland," he said.

As to the residential election in 2008, he said the people of Azerbaijan expressed their will in a free and democratic manner.

"Availing myself of this opportunity, I once again want to express my gratitude to the people of Azerbaijan for the high confidence shown in me. This high confidence and kind attitude makes me even more enthusiastic. Five years ago, I promised the Azerbaijani people that I would do everything possible for the overall development of the country. I will be working for the sake of welfare of the people of Azerbaijan, for developing Azerbaijan and strengthening our state system. I want to say again that the high confidence shown in me pleases and inspires me. I want to assure the people of Azerbaijan that I will spare no effort to do my best to worthily serve my people," he concluded.