Azerbaijan, Baku, May 24 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova/
Azerbaijan is one of the most secure countries in the region and the citizens of Azerbaijan and the visitors should be very proud of that, Ronald K. Noble, the Secretary-General of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) believes.
"I have been coming to Azerbaijan since 2003, working with Azerbaijan's Ministry of interior and police and I can tell you that Azerbaijan in terms of security is one of the most secure countries in the region and the citizens of Azerbaijan and the visitors should be very proud of that," Noble told in an interview with Azerbaijani Media on Wednesday.
Concerning the Eurovision 2012 song contest, Noble said that the Interpol has been working with the Azerbaijani Ministry of Interior, the Interpol office and the police to get prepared for the contest for over 8-9 months.
"I can tell you that the security measures here are great and the cooperation between Interpol and Azerbaijan in this regard is great," he added.
Noble said every foreigner that comes to Azerbaijan is having his or her passport and name screening through a special database, so the security is on the highest level and people "should really feel comfortable and enjoy themselves in the country".
He believes one of the most important challenges regionally and internationally for security is being able to screen the identities of foreigner coming into the country, or coming through the country.
"In this regard Azerbaijan uses all needed tools and equipment in order to make sure that the foreigners coming into your country or coming through your country have documents that are authentic and are not wanted by Interpol or police around the world and this process is very strong," Noble said.
He believes Azerbaijan has perhaps one of the most experienced Ministry of Internal Affairs in the world.
When the Interpol has new tools or services one of the first countries in the world to implement them is Azerbaijan, he mentioned.
"So in terms of doing all that the country can do to protect the citizens and visitors from terrorism I put Azerbaijan on the top," Noble said.
Talking about his impressions of Azerbaijan, he said most people who come to Baku might not know what to expect and when one come around the first thing that he sees is the integration of "rich cultural history with the ability to move and adopt quickly to modern times".
"In my view by coming to Baku, by coming to Azerbaijan people really get a great appreciation for the love that the country's people have for culture, art, history," Noble added.
"If you walk to the Maiden tower you can see the exhibition of the artist of the tower, if you walk in the old city you see old carpets, and if you just walk and look at the Baku Crystal Hall or walk along the boulevard you just see incredible mixture of blend of the past and the new."
He believes people of Azerbaijan really have a lot to be proud of.