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Azerbaijani President: â€œThe peopleâ€™s right to elect a person more than twice is a democratic principleâ€

02 February 2009 12:43 (UTC +04:00)

It was clear that the project was important for Europeansâ€, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev gave an interview to the newspaper Wall Street Journal, APA reports quoting AzerTAj state news agency.The Head of State noted that realization of the project needed any financial source.
â€œIt can be banks and centralized financial packages. It will not be easy for Nabucco member countries to collect largeâ€“scale investment. One of the main terms is to ensure financial support. Non-existence of it can cause problem for realization of the project. We are happy that we were able to establish modern infrastructure to transmit our gas to other states. Azerbaijani gas is transmitted to Georgia and Turkey, including European countries. Current gas pipelines cover amount of production. Moreover, we have great plans to increase the level of production. Then we will need many routes. Nabucco is one of them,â€ he said.

The President added that they had recently received proposal on transmission of Azerbaijani gas to Europe via Russia.
â€œIt was not debated till the middle of 2008. We did not consider this direction as potential route and Russia has never interested in it. The proposal is attractive. If we can sell Azerbaijani gas in our border with transit country without any problem and there are productive market prices, we will consider the proposal. We have not refused the proposal, but we should consider it comprehensively. Before we aimed to ramify the network and now Azerbaijan feels free in terms of it. Oil and gas pipelines give opportunity us to transmit carbohydrates to various directions. We do not depend on one route. We are considering proposals received from Gazprom, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and we will choose the best version for our country,â€ he said. The Head of State added that 10% economic increase was forecasted in Azerbaijan in 2009.
â€œGDP increased by 2.6 times over the past five years. It was 11 % in 2008. We hope that the indicator will not change,â€ he said.

The President answered question on the fact that world economic crisis covered all economic spheres.
â€œNot in terms of financial institutions and banks,â€ he added.
As regards the real sector of economy, there can be partial. The enterprises and plants producing export goods may face some difficulties. But we have enough currency resources to help them. In the past five years we have implemented a number of programs envisaging preferential loans to offer financial assistance to the private business and we continue this activity. I do not see any serious difficulties for Azerbaijan,â€ he said.

The head of state also touched on the discontinuation of broadcasts of foreign radio companies in Azerbaijan.
â€œThe decision was made by the National Television and Radio Council, not by the parliament. The decision was passed basing on the 2002 law that bans broadcasts of foreign radio companies via national frequencies. So, this is not the ban. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, BBC and the Voice of America can continue their programs through shortwave. They can continue their programs through Internet, cable and satellite. There may be a misunderstanding in the international media that their broadcasting has been banned. We have not imposed a ban, we have merely complied the situation with our legislation. We studied the situation in Europe. The situation is similar there. We do not restrict the media in Azerbaijan, merely, they have to be in line with the national legislation and current norms in Europe,â€ he said.

Taking a stance on the referendum on amendments to Azerbaijanâ€™s Constitution on March 18, the head of state underlined that the initiative had been put forth by New Azerbaijan Party having the majority of seats in the parliament.
â€œThe peopleâ€™s right to elect a person more than twice is a democratic principle. Referendum is a democratic procedure and based on the peopleâ€™s will. Moreover, it is in line with the European practice,â€ he said.

President Ilham Aliyev said there was no serious problem in achieving high economic growth.
â€œOil and gas is our main export. Fall of oil prices will of course reduce GDP growth, because the amount of export will be the same, while the price will be lower. But other sectors of the economy have great potential. Recent reforms are producing good results. We have a good potential in the field of agriculture. Small and medium sized enterprises have strong potential. Infrastructural projects are being implemented successfully. The GDP made up 15.7 percent in non-oil sector in Azerbaijan. So, all these are main factors and the reforms we have carried out. Those factors are one of the main causes of this growth,â€ he said.