Baku, Azerbaijan, May 14
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Today, in different parts of the world, in influential international structures, on various prestigious events, people talk about Azerbaijan's development model, Azerbaijani example, "Azerbaijani phenomenon", Head of the Public and Political Issues Department of Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Ali Hasanov said.
Hasanov made the remarks at the 'The Business Year: Azerbaijan - 2014' edition presentation ceremony on May 14.
"As it is known, in 2013 'The Business Year' company declared Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 'President of the Year' in the world," he said.
"The main reason is a significant contribution made by the president in Azerbaijan's dynamic development, the country's presence in the global geopolitical space, ensuring peace and security in the global arena as a member of the UN Security Council.
A significant contribution to the development of the information and communication technology sector, the Internet in Azerbaijan, region and the world after launching the first telecommunication satellite Azerspace into orbit, as well as the services in the transformation of Azerbaijan into the center, hosting the important international social, political, economic, humanitarian forums, conferences, sporting events can be also mentioned. Obviously, each of these reasons is an important factor stipulating the country's identity in the modern history of Azerbaijan."
While speaking about a national example, national identity, Hasanov takes six directions as a basis.
"The first direction is that Azerbaijan is an independent country, conducting an independent domestic and foreign policy in accordance with national interests," he said.
"Electing Azerbaijan member of the UN Security Council in 2012 with the support of 155 countries in terms of strong competition and strong resistance attempts, as well as active participation in the system of international relations with major world powers can be cited as a good example," Hasanov said. "The second direction is that after joining a rapid socio-economic development stage in 2003, Azerbaijan presented a new development model to the world," he added.
"The Azerbaijani economy has grown by more than threefold for the last ten years," he said. "The poverty and unemployment have also been minimized. A new social and economic infrastructure has been formed. Our country and society have been modernized. Azerbaijan has turned into a transport and logistics center in the region. It began playing a significant role in ensuring energy security in the region and Europe. It became a member of the space club by launching its own satellite into orbit. Azerbaijan showed the world by its experience that even such a small country, 20 percent of which is occupied and which has more than one million refugees and internally displaced persons, can achieve desirable development and progress. This is achieved as a result of the thought-out economic policy while global giants suffer from economic regress. Azerbaijan has also become famous due to the world-known brands and companies. Today SOCAR with over $20 billion worth of investments made in Turkish economy and holding its position in the economic system of the European developed countries in terms of fierce competition, is in line with BP, Statoil, Shevron and other transnational energy giants."
He said the 'ASAN Xidmet' Service is known throughout the world as an Azerbaijani brand, while the use of this progressive practice has become a topic of discussion in some countries.
As for the third direction, Hasanov said that over the last ten years, Azerbaijan has turned into an inter-cultural and inter-civilizational dialogue space and introduced its tolerance and humanism model to the world.
"Baku, which hosts the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, International Humanitarian Forum and other similar prestigious events, has acquired the status of an international humanitarian center in Eurasia. In this field it is necessary to particularly note the tireless activity of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and its head, Azerbaijan's First Lady, UNESCO and ISESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva," Hasanov said.
He went on to add that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has gained considerable credibility and trust both in the Azerbaijani public, and in the world for its important contribution to the dynamic development of society, indispensable merits in promotion of Azerbaijani culture in the world, full support for preserving the world's cultural heritage and loyalty to the principles of humanism and social justice.
"With its humanitarian mission, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has brought a kind of innovation in addressing important issues on the national and global scale, which, of course, must be characterized as another model of Azerbaijan. For this Mehriban Aliyeva has been awarded the 'First Lady of the Year' by the 'The Business Year' company," Ali Hasanov stressed.
Talking about the fourth direction, Hasanov said that over the past years the Olympic movement has gone big scale in Azerbaijan, adding that a large, modern sports infrastructure has been created in Azerbaijan.
He went on to say that the Azerbaijani athletes achieved great victories at major international competitions, held in various parts of the world.
Hasanov also stressed that the fifth direction is Azerbaijan's recent transformation into a center of regional and global level.
"As we know, Azerbaijan, which is located at the intersection of the East and West, has a favorable geographic and geo-strategic importance. But throughout our history we have not been able to use this advantage for the national interests and the interests of the people," Hasanov said.
"Only after the national leader Heydar Aliyev's coming to power for the second time in 1993, this factor, along with the energy factor, became one of the main levers of Azerbaijan's political line. As a result of the policy pursued by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev throughout the last ten years, Azerbaijan has gained a status of a regional and global center."
Talking about the last - the sixth direction, Hasanov said that over the years of its independence, Azerbaijan defined the tactics of using income from energy exports.
"The revenues were directed at the national development, and the growth of the welfare of the Azerbaijani people," he said.
"The policy of turning oil capital into human capital, education of future generations, developing the sense of being the country's future owner in them, is being successfully implemented. The steps taken by President Ilham Aliyev in this sphere, and the youth and education policy attract the world's attention," Hasanov said.
Hasanov stressed that thus throughout 20 years of its independence, particularly during Ilham Aliyev's presidency, Azerbaijan has demonstrated its example and identity in all areas, adding that the country has presented itself to the world as a strong, independent, modern, and steadily developing country.
"Today, exactly this factor attracts the attention of international organizations, individual states, research centers and media to our country. 'The Business Year' company's consecutive 4-year cooperation with Azerbaijan is aimed at familiarizing the entire world with this model," Ali Hasanov said.