BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 11. Strengthening Azerbaijan's international position was one of the main issues to which great leader Heydar Aliyev paid attention, Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov said, Trend reports.
Jabbarov made the remark during an event on the "Role of Heydar Aliyev in implementation of UN development projects in Azerbaijan".
According to the minister, the speeches of the national leader at the UN General Assembly also played a big role in the development of cooperation with the UN, of which Azerbaijan has been a member since 1992.
“In his speeches, Heydar Aliyev spoke about the political and economic situation of Azerbaijan and the principles of policy towards the international community, widely informed about the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, bringing the difficult situation faced by the country to the attention of the UN member states,” Jabbarov said.
With the participation of Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan together with most of the UN member countries at the Millennium Summit in New York in September 2000 adopted the Millennium Declaration, which defined the general framework for creating significant positive changes in the lives of people around the world in the period up to 2015, the minister said.
Jabbarov noted that eight Sustainable Development Goals were reflected in this declaration.
The "State Program on Poverty Reduction and Economic Development in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2003-2005", the "State Programme on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2008-2015", and three state programs on socio-economic development of regions were implemented.
As a result, Azerbaijan has made significant progress in achieving many of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular in reducing poverty, raising the level of education, improving the situation in the field of gender equality and environmental protection, reducing child and maternal mortality, strengthening the fight against dangerous infectious and other diseases and expanding participation in the global partnership for progress.
Jabbarov underlined that Azerbaijan, among 128 countries that have committed to reducing poverty by half within the framework of the MDGs, is one of 18 countries that have fulfilled this commitment, as well as 29 countries that have achieved poverty reduction below five percent in the world.
"Our country left the group of countries in 2010 with the status of average human development and entered the category of high human development. I would especially like to mention the role of projects implemented with the UN in this direction," the minister added.