Azerbaijan's development strategy from regions to international relations

This week was quite significant and productive with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s trips to Azerbaijani districts and villages to review some reconstruction works as well as a number of important meetings.

Having started the first official visit to Neftchala district and then Salyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva, attended a number of objects were opened. With the special participation of the first person of the country in Neftchala - the Neftchala Olympic Sports Complex, the Neftchala-Kurkend-Mayak highway number 2, a new school, in Salyan - the digital control centre of Azerishyg OJSC and the ASAN Xidm?t Centre were inaugurated. The President and the First Lady got acquainted with the conditions created after the overhaul in the maternity hospital and children's clinic of the Salyan Regional Central Hospital, with the work of the sturgeon breeding farm of Azerbaijan Fish Farm LLC in the Yenikend village of the Neftchala region.

All these facilities were built or repaired within the framework of regional development programs and show the breadth of the state's approaches to the fate of the country's regions. The accents are balanced and allow raising both the socio-economic level of the population and the level of the regional healthcare system, as well as opening up new opportunities for entrepreneurial activity. As a rule, the head of state's trips to the regions are timed to coincide with the opening of important instructional facilities. This time, President Ilham Aliyev opened the Neftchala-Kurkend-Mayak highway number 2. The road is small, only 19 kilometres, but very significant on a regional scale. The road has not been repaired for many years and fell into disrepair. Now three settlements, including the regional centre of Neftchala itself, are connected by a modern highway. Considering that the modernization of the country's transport network is made up of not only international highways, the renovated road commissioned with the participation of the head of state is a contribution to this process.

While in Salyan, President Ilham Aliyev gave an interview to Azerbaijani television. In which, in particular, he emphasized that the overall development of the regions of Azerbaijan is both social in nature and strengthens our country as a whole. He recalled that the fourth State program of socio-economic development of regions is currently being implemented.

"My trips to the regions are also a means of control, that is, how my instructions are carried out, at the same time, regular instructions and recommendations are given so that all the goals we have declared are achieved in the regions, primarily improving the well-being of people, creating infrastructure facilities, including carrying out work related to social infrastructure. In a word, the overall development of the regions of Azerbaijan is also of a social nature, and at the same time strengthens our country," the Azerbaijani President said.

It should be noted that the Decree "On approval of the State program for the socio-economic development of the regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2019-2023" was signed by the President on January 29, 2018. According to the decree, a new five-year program was launched. This year is the last one, and its results will make it clear how the republic has changed over the past five years. It seems that these changes are visible to everyone and do not require detailing. Over these five years, the country had to go through a war and a pandemic, but in the last year of the 4th GP, Azerbaijan entered with serious achievements.

The state program for 2019-2023 provided for the implementation of measures aimed at stimulating the non-oil sector, improving the quality of public services and providing the regions with social infrastructure, further improving the business environment, increasing investment, opening new enterprises, creating new jobs, and reducing poverty. Significant progress has been made on all these points. Suffice it to say that as of the end of 2022, the poverty rate in the country fell below 5 percent, the non-oil sector grew by 4.6 percent in the first two months of this year, new roads, social facilities are laid or commissioned almost every month in the regions of the country, favourable conditions are being created for local entrepreneurs and farmers.

When the 4th State Program was adopted in 2019, no one knew yet that in a year there would be fundamental changes in the life of the country. In the fall of 2020, Azerbaijan freed its lands from the 30-year occupation, which almost immediately began to be brought back to life. The state program, one might say, was rewritten and supplemented on the go. The decree "On the new division of economic regions in the Republic of Azerbaijan" signed by the President of the country in July 2021 has made its own adjustments. In addition, the State Program with a new content required an increase in funding. The integration of the Karabakh region and Eastern Zangazur into the economic and social systems of the country added "concerns" to the State Program. Ten thousand square kilometres of territories were transferred to work, which needed to be rebuilt and revived. As the current trip of the head of state to Neftchala and Salyan shows, the state keeps all regions under close attention. However, it is no secret that the main forces are now thrown into projects carried out in the liberated territories. Today this is the main front of work. As President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to Azerbaijan television in Salyan, at present the issue of restoring Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur is a top priority for us, and he makes most of his trips to the regions there.

"The work done in Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur once again shows that we, the owners of these lands."

An example of the successful development of regional projects is the beginning of the settlement of the liberated villages of Agaly, Zangilan and Talysh, Tartar region. The President very accurately noted that in the appearance of these modern and well-maintained settlements we see the future of the liberated territories.

"On the example of these villages, we see in general the future appearance of Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur - well-maintained cities, well-maintained villages, infrastructure created on the basis of smart management principles. That is, all this is obvious. I will say it again, these two projects are already being shown to the entire population of Azerbaijan and around the world, what will be the future image of Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur," President Ilham Aliyev said. According to him, all projects related to the implementation of infrastructure projects, railways and roads, energy supply, water supply, land reclamation work are going according to plan. Two airports are already in operation, the construction of the third one is underway. A second large residential complex is being laid in Shusha, work is underway in Lachin, where residents are planned to be returned before the end of this year.

Thus, the 4th State Program for the socio-economic development of regions is expected to have a grand finale. And it is no longer difficult to guess what tasks will be set in the next one.

Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Israel: a sign of the high level of relations

Another important day of the week was dedicated to the meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister and co-chair of the Joint Commission Eli Cohen, following the opening our first ever embassy in Tel Aviv.

Having welcomed the guest, President Ilham Aliyev noted that the two countries enjoy good political ties. Azerbaijani President described the opening of the embassy of Azerbaijan in Israel as a sign of the high level of relations, and emphasized that these ties are based on friendship, mutual trust, respect and support. Saying that the bilateral cooperation agenda is expanding, the head of state specially stressed the activity of the Joint Commission between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Government of the State of Israel, and expressed hope that it could contribute to the diversification of relations.

Underlining that the process of modernization of the economy is successfully implemented in Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev noted the importance of exchanging experience in the field of technologies, including green energy, smart city and smart village concepts. The President highlighted the conditions created in the Alat Free Economic Zone, noting that there are good opportunities for Israeli companies to operate here and come up with new projects. The importance of considering the possibilities of SOCAR's participation in the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources in Israel was also emphasized.

Furthermore, big opportunities for development of cooperation in economy, energy, agriculture, renewable energy, investments, science, education, culture, tourism, security and other fields were stressed at the meeting. It was noted that Azerbaijan is interested in Israel’s experience in water resource management, sea water desalination, prevention of desertification and desert and semi-desert farming.