Arab media outlets assess Azerbaijan’s economic success and cultural heritage

One-page article that begins with a description of Azerbaijan's geographic data, describes in detail the ancient history of the country, which, as the author says, is "one of the ancient civilizations of Europe" with centuries-old traditions. The country, where the majority of the population professes Islam, religious minorities independently take advantage of their civil rights, provided by the Constitution.

The article tells about the Azerbaijani people's historic struggle for its independence, which in 1918 ended with the establishment of the first democratic republic in the Islamic east, later overthrown by the Soviet regime. However, in 1991 the country regained its independence thanks to the historic leader Heydar Aliyev, the author of the article Iyyad Al Bani writes.

Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Al Bani points out Azerbaijan's requirements to fulfill the UN Security Council resolution that calls to withdraw the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

The author also pays special attention to Azerbaijan's economic success achieved in recent years. Azerbaijan's oil and gas riches, from 1990s, entered the world markets, thanks to the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, as well as the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which will connect Azerbaijan's railway with European and Middle Eastern railways.

However, Azerbaijan's natural resources are not limited to oil and gas: the country has enormous tourism potential due to the wonderful nature and strategic location between East and West, the article says.

Azerbaijan, as the center of the world's transportation and communication between countries, since 1993, participates in the implementation of the TRACECA project, which aims - the revival of the Silk Road, the author writes.

In addition, during 2009 a sharp increase in foreign investment and gross domestic product, which grew by 9.3% to $4,784 per capita, was observed in the country. Production increased by 12.7%, agriculture - by 3.5%, transport services - by 9.3%, and telecommunication - 13.1%.
Ironically all these happened during the global financial crisis, Al Bani said.

According to him, the Azerbaijani Government pays great attention to the development of education, developing the state program on Azerbaijani students' study in the best universities of the world.

In addition to the fact that ancient historical monuments, some of which entered the list of UNESCO World Heritage, are being restored in the country, the Azerbaijani Government is also involved in funding cultural projects abroad. One of these examples is the allocation of one million euros for the restoration of the famous Louvre museum.

The country continues to build new roads, bridges, housing and sports facilities, medical centers that meet international standards, Al-Bani said in his article. Azerbaijan also gave the Islamic world first opera, written in 1908 by Uzeyir Hajibeyov, and Azerbaijan's musical creativity - Mugam and Ashug art is included in UNESCO's folk heritage list, the article says.


/Trend/