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Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijan has been the worldâ€™s fastest economically developing country during past 14 years

21 December 2017 13:47 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan is the world’s fastest economically developing country during past 14 years, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at the "2017- Year of Islamic Solidarity: Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue" international conference.

He noted that very serious economic reforms are being conducted in Azerbaijan: ‘Economy grew more than three times. We, at the same time, are pursuing serious social policy and as a result of this, unemployment and poverty level is at 5% in Azerbaijan. Large volume of investments is made in human capital. During the past five years, more than 3,000 schools, more than 60 medical institutions were constructed or reconstructed. 12,000 km of road was constructed and other necessary infrastructure is being created. International financial organizations highly appreciate the reforms in Azerbaijan. We ranked the 35^th in World Davos Forum for economic competitiveness. This is a great figure and we have not reached this goal through energy resources. Of course, Azerbaijan uses energy resources effectively. However, competitiveness of the countries is measured by other parameters. I know that the society has optimist opinions about future development of our country. Energy projects, the $40 billion-Southern Gas Corridor and other projects will support the long-term development of our country’.

The head of state noted that Azerbaijan becomes a very significant transport hub in the region: ‘BTK connected Asia and Europe. Now, we are working on the North-South transport corridor. There are certain results. We are expecting next results by the year-end. This corridor may be launched within two or three years. This means that the railways both from east to west and north to south will pass through Azerbaijan’s territory. This will bring extra benefit to us. This will also contribute to the regional cooperation. I’m sure that this will have positive impact on the topic of today’s conference. Because I think that speaking in interfaith and intercultural dialogue is not sufficient. There must be concrete projects, concrete interests. The projects we are implementing in the region fully meet these mutual interests’.