Baku – APA. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today presided over the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, APA reports quoting AzTV.
The meeting was dedicated to the outcomes of socio-economic development in 2013 and tasks lying ahead in 2014.
President Ilham Aliyev stressed that in 2013, the successful socio-economic development of Azerbaijan was continued and its international image was strengthened. The Head of State said that our republic took a principled position guided by the international law and justice during its two-year activity at the UN Security Council and the international reputation of our country increased even more during this period.
The President also stated that the campaign launched by anti-Azerbaijani forces at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) early in 2013 failed. The Head of State also said that last year, Azerbaijan hosted a number of prestigious international events and carried out detailed activities to expand and strengthen bilateral relations with various countries.
Stressing the lack of progress in the negotiations on the settlement of Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh due to Armenia’s non-constructive position, the President said that a certain revival was observed at the end of last year.
Referring to the facts that Azerbaijan’s state budget exceeds Armenia's state budget by 8 times, our population is 6 times more than the population of the aggressor state and Armenia’s socio-economic situation is much more difficult, the Head of State underlined that power ratio in all spheres is in favor of our republic.
The Head of State said that 20,000 IDPs were provided with houses last year, new houses will be built for approximately equal number of IDPs this year.
President Aliyev stated that in 2013, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 6 per cent, non-oil sector by 9.8 per cent, incomes by 8 per cent and inflation made up 2.4 per cent. The Head of State stressed that last year, the record number - $28 billion was invested in Azerbaijan’s economy and the strategic currency reserves of Azerbaijan reached AZN 50 billion.
The Head of State noted that in 2013, 110,000 jobs (including 80,000 permanent) were created and unemployment dropped to 5 per cent.
The Head of State underlined that poverty level is 5.3% in the country, Azerbaijan’s external debt-to-GDP ratio is 8% and it is one of the best indicators in the world.
The President said that successful socio-economic development of Azerbaijan, which ranked 39th for global competitiveness index in the world according to the World Economic Forum’s recent report, will also continue in the future. He stressed that 2013 saw the increase in salaries, pensions and full repayment of Soviet era deposits in compensation to the population.
The Head of State regarded launch of Azerbaijan’s first satellite in 2013 as a historical achievement and noted that a great work had been done for the development of tourism and transport sectors. He expressed his hope that Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway that is under construction will be commissioned in 2015. The President emphasized Azerbaijan’s role in the implementation of global projects like TAP and Shahdeniz-2.
Aliyev expressed his gratitude to the people for re-electing him last year by evaluating real policy and the work done, noted that all influential organizations officially confirmed that the elections were free, fair and transparent.
Following this, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov, Health Minister Ogtay Shiraliyev delivered speeches.
Delivering a closing speech, President Ilham Aliyev stressed the importance of enhancing investment programs, protecting macroeconomic stability, continuing state support for economic reforms and entrepreneurship, maintaining a stable rate of inflation to continue achievements of the previous year in 2014.
The Head of State underlined tasks lying ahead regarding the implementation of the next State Program on social-economic development of Baku city and its settlements that will be adopted this year. President Ilham Aliyev said that one of the major goals is to meet the country's demand for food products at the expense of internal resources and gave relevant instructions to expand melioration and irrigation measures, create large farms, continue funding for the purchase of new technical equipment for agriculture and complete land records. He spoke about the tasks lying ahead for continuous supply of natural gas, implementation of projects on construction of drinking water and sanitation facilities, as well as rural roads in 2014. The President noted that measures to fight against corruption would also be continued and the number of ASAN services would go up in 2014.
The President also characterized 2014 as the decisive year in the preparation of Baku 2015 First European Games.
The Head of State said that 2014 would be "The Year of Industry".
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17.11
Baku – APA. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today presided over the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The meeting was dedicated to the outcomes of socio-economic development in 2013 and tasks lying ahead 2014.
The Head of State addressed the meeting.
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