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President Ilham Aliyev: Security well-ensured in Azerbaijan

05 November 2015 07:38 (UTC +04:00)

President Aliyev made the remarks on Wednesday at the opening of the Heydar Aliyev Center in Zagatala district.

“I initiated the construction of Zagatala airport and it was built. Now we set forth the task to extend the runway for airport’s receiving all kinds of aircraft. It will lead to implementation of international flights and increase in the influx of tourists,” the president said.

The head of state said that Zagatala has very beautiful nature, many sights, historical and ancient architectural monuments.

“I would like the citizens of Azerbaijan to see it, first of all, to develop domestic tourism. I also want foreign tourists coming and seeing beautiful places of Azerbaijan.

On the whole, there is progress in our country. We will successfully end 2015. All of our socio-economic indicators are at a high level, although the world is experiencing deep crisis. In fact, the global financial and economic crisis in the world has been going for several years. Today, political and military crisis prevails in the world. You see that in different parts of the world, including in our neighboring countries there are processes that are of great concern. Bloody clashes continue both in Europe and in the CIS and Middle East. In this case, every country, in the first place, should be more serious about its security. In fact, we have always thought about it. The life of the Azerbaijani people in a safe environment was the top priority of ours. If we were not able to achieve it, there would have been no development. Development is not possible without stability. Security is well-ensured in Azerbaijan. Stability and unity between the people and the government are further strengthening. The recent parliamentary election confirmed it once again. First of all, I should note that the voter turnout in the parliamentary election was high enough. Moreover, all democratic norms are ensured in Azerbaijan. Fair and transparent election once again showed Azerbaijan’s commitment to democratic development. More than five hundred foreign and tens of thousands of local observers confirmed my words. All international observers said the election was held at the highest level, noting that it reflects the will of the Azerbaijani people,” said President Aliyev.

The president said that Azerbaijan ranks the 40th for competitiveness, ahead of many developed countries. At the same time, international organizations appreciate our fight against poverty and unemployment. In September, the United Nations granted Azerbaijan with the highest award for its achievements.

“Poverty dropped from 50 to 5 percent in Azerbaijan within a decade. I set the task that there should be no poverty in Azerbaijan. There shouldn’t be a single person living in poverty in Azerbaijan, and we are approaching this goal.

Great strides have been made regarding unemployment in recent years. Unemployment is at very low level. However, unemployment could increase somehow as a result of the global financial crisis. Some work places are being closed. However, there is a positive trend that more jobs are being created. 67,000 jobs were created, while 30,000 were closed. Undoubtedly, economic reforms – entrepreneurship, agricultural development, food security – will continue to be a priority in future. Zagatala district has extremely huge potential in these areas. We now have to try to use our natural resources to the maximum extent. We strive to create better conditions for entrepreneurs so that they can produce more domestic and foreign products and sell them in domestic and foreign markets. For this purpose, critical steps have been taken; I have signed an order and approved a law in order to further improve the business environment so that no one can create a problem for entrepreneurs or interfere with their activities.

I do believe the reforms carried out will allow Azerbaijan to maintain its dynamic development pace in the future. It’s not that easy to accomplish it at the present time. Many countries, both in the neighborhood and around the world are going through economic recession, while Azerbaijan is undergoing economic growth. Over the nine months of this year, the economic has grown by about 4 percent and the non-oil economy by 6 percent. Of course, it only became possible thanks to the works carried out. However, the achievements should not calm us. Every one of us should be more active and try to carry our country forward so that this wonderful public-political environment in Azerbaijan may be permanent,” said President Ilham Aliyev.

The head of state noted that a number of international organizations, politicians, political scientists mention interreligious and international relations in Azerbaijan as an example.

"It’s indeed so; Azerbaijan is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state. It is our greatest asset. A representative of any nation living in Azerbaijan is a valuable citizen who enjoy equals rights. There has never been a religious and ethnic confrontation in Azerbaijan and we remain committed to this policy. Countries which fail to deal with these issues properly face catastrophes,” the president completed.