BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 29
Trend:
"Reforms are our conscious choice," President Ilham Aliyev said at a ceremony on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Baku State University, Trend reports.
"Can anyone guess what these reforms are for? After all, everything is going well, the country is developing, new enterprises are opening, there is improvement. But structural reforms, political reforms and economic reforms are needed. Take a look – as a result of economic reforms, we have collected over 850 million manats in the budget in just 10 months of this year. We are channeling these funds into the social sphere," he said.
"But these are only the first steps of the next stage of reform. Even bigger steps will be taken afterwards. This allows us the opportunity to pay great attention to the social sphere. More than 4.2 million people have benefited from this. This year, the minimum wage has doubled, the minimum pension has increased by 70 percent, benefits have doubled, scholarships have risen by 50 percent, benefits for the IDPs have increased by 50 percent. Due to what? It didn’t fall from the sky, we are achieving this through reforms, and we should," the president said.
The head of state noted that personnel reforms are under way.
"Therefore, personnel reforms must be carried out, but in an evolutionary and natural manner. After I had expressed my thoughts on this issue several times, some started calculating other people’s age, saying that someone is 70 years old and should retire. This must not be the case. Then I said that I would not allow a campaign. Experience, knowledge and dynamism, the innovation of youth, its desire for renewal and reforms – there is such a synthesis in Azerbaijan. It is available both in society and in the government," the president said.
The head of state stressed that Azerbaijan is building state on traditional values, there are older and younger people.
"We must preserve this. Let the youth hear me and always pay attention to the issue of the older and the younger. Some countries are not paying attention to this now. No distinctions are being made between men and women any longer. But we live and must live in a traditional society. We must respect women, protect them: we must protect them, not women should protect us. There is gender equality and we accept it. But we cannot live beyond traditional thinking, let the younger generation know this too. Seniors must be respected for their age. Some people are trying to exclude the word "elder" from our vocabulary, as is the case in some countries. You look at them and feel horrified. And then we are advised to integrate," the Azerbaijani president said.
"I once asked when Europe was gripped by an economic crisis: where should we integrate, into a crisis? Where should we integrate, into a society saying “Stop Islam”? Where should we integrate, into a society of those who do not see the difference between men and women? I don't want to go into detail. We will not integrate there – by no means! Therefore, the elderly and young generations need to be together in Azerbaijan, like in higher schools. Look, there are thousands of young people and teachers at Baku State University today. Teachers share their knowledge, young people study and will take their place tomorrow. That is how we should develop. Of course, personnel reforms should be continued but this should not turn into a campaign."