President Aliyev: Azerbaijan needs to further deepen reforms
President Ilham Aliyev touched upon several important issues at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in the first half of 2018 and future objectives on July 9.
President Ilham Aliyev touched upon several important issues at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in the first half of 2018 and future objectives on July 9.
The imperative of the present time dictates the need to further deepen the reforms in Azerbaijan and fully ensure transparency, said the President
“The indicators of the past six months give grounds to say that we will successfully achieve all the tasks set for ourselves in early 2018. Azerbaijan’s economy should develop dynamically in coming years. Of course, it is necessary to further deepen the reforms in order to achieve this,” he said.
The head of state pointed out that the reforms carried out in recent years have yielded excellent results.
“If we wouldn’t carry out these reforms, we could not achieve such great economic success. But I believe that today we should further deepen these reforms. We should make sure that the Azerbaijani economy manifests itself as a long-term, stable economy in the future, so that the dependence on oil and gas would further decrease and the development of the non-oil sector could proceed swiftly,” he said.
The head of state went on to add that maximum transparency should be ensured in the economic and financial sectors.
“This transparency will allow the Azerbaijani economy to develop even more confidently, so that even larger foreign investments would be made in our non-oil sector, because the main reason for the improper level of foreign investment in this sector is the non-transparent environment. At the same time, it is necessary to take additional measures in legislation, despite the fact that our legislation is very favorable for attracting foreign investments. Otherwise, investments worth of more than $230 billion would not have been made in the country’s economy,” said President Aliyev.
Speaking of the recent situation in Armenia, Ilham Aliyev said that as a result of the policy pursued by Azerbaijan, Armenia has been deprived of all projects that could bring it income.
“Justice triumphed, and the thievish, criminal regime that led Armenia for 20 years, became completely dishonored and was ousted from the political arena. I can say that we also played a role in the collapse of this regime. I do not want to overplay this. We do not want, as the saying goes, to attribute it to ourselves. However, the truth is that as a result of our policy, Armenia was deprived of all the projects that could bring it income. We successfully carried out a policy of isolation against them, and without fearing anyone, I have repeatedly said this to the Azerbaijani public and foreign partners. As long as our lands are under occupation, we will pursue a policy of isolation against Armenia. Armenia suffered an economic collapse as a result of this policy,” said the President.
One might say that Armenia is deprived of economic prospects, noted President Aliyev.
“It is unlikely that anyone will want to invest in this country. The demographic situation of this country is deplorable. I have repeatedly said that at least 50,000-60,000 people leave Armenia every year. The new government confirms this. That’s to say, our isolation policy played its role. We isolated Armenia from all regional projects. There will be no development in the country, which doesn’t have economic prospects. There will be made no investments and the people's mood will not be good,” he said.
The head of state noted that the April battles, which took place two years ago, even more shook the rotten and shaky foundations of Armenia.
“The April battles became such a big blow to the Sargsyan regime that they could not recover from it in two years, and the myth created by them that allegedly their army is strong was, of course, completely ruined. We destroyed this myth. In a few days, we destroyed the “strong fortification” that they created over many years on the line of contact. This caused great disappointment in the Armenian society. Therefore, everything that happened with Armenia was inevitable and logical,” said the President.
“The main reason for this was the anti-national policy pursued by the criminal regime, and the confident policy pursued by Azerbaijan, as well as the dynamics of our development. Because the population of Armenia is well aware of which peak Azerbaijan has managed to reach. This is stability within the country, development, international relations, economic development, army building and settlement of social issues. The difference between us is like a difference between heaven and earth, and this once again showed that Armenia’s occupation policy has brought them into such a difficult situation.”
The head of state went on to add that if there were no occupation, Armenia could participate in projects that are implemented on Azerbaijan’s initiative.
“Like other countries, they could take advantage of our opportunities and, of course, their economic situation could be good today. They found themselves in this situation as a result of the policy of that criminal, thievish regime, which suck the blood of the Armenian people throughout 20 years,” said President Aliyev. “I hope that the new government of Armenia will not repeat the mistakes of the criminal regime, will hold a constructive position on the settlement of conflict, and the conflict will soon be resolved and the territorial integrity of our country will be restored.”
President Aliyev went on to add that there is only way to solve the conflict: the occupation forces must be withdrawn from the occupied lands, Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity must be restored and the four resolutions of the UN Security Council must be fulfilled.
“These resolutions are in force. If anyone has forgotten, I can remind: these resolutions openly say that the Armenian armed forces should be immediately and unconditionally withdrawn from the occupied lands. These resolutions are and will remain in force. Therefore, the settlement of the conflict depends on the fulfillment of these resolutions, and Azerbaijan, of course, will pursue its principled policy,” said the head of state.
“As I have already noted, our international ties are strengthening and the support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity is growing. We can say that the agreements that we signed with many countries reflect the thesis about the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the territorial integrity of our country. This topic is constantly raised in our contacts with international organizations with which we cooperate, and our policy gets great support. Nagorno-Karabakh is our native historical land, and we should restore our territorial integrity. Great work has been done to this end,” President Aliyev said.
Ilham Aliyev noted that the criminal, corrupt, thievish, deceitful power of bloodsuckers in Armenia has completely collapsed.
“The criminal, corrupt, thievish, deceitful power of bloodsuckers completely collapsed over 20 years. Today, the Armenian people say what I said. I have several times accused the former authorities of Armenia from the highest tribunes, the UN rostrum. I said that this is the criminal junta regime and now the Armenian people are saying this. I said that this is a thievish corrupt regime and now the Armenian people are saying this. I said that this is a regime that sucks the blood of its own people,” said President Aliyev.
President Aliyev added that the Sargsyan regime, which was ousted from power with disgrace, is in reality a collapse of the Armenian statehood.
“If 20 years out of 26 years of independence have passed under this authority, what positive qualities could this state have?! Armenia is a loser state. The Armenian statehood has suffered a fiasco. Their heroes, their generals are thieves and their army is an army of thieves. Today, the people of Armenia see this and the Armenian authorities say this. Justice triumphed, and the thievish, criminal regime that led Armenia for 20 years, became completely dishonored and was ousted from the political arena,” said the head of state.