Daily Times
Monday, October 17, 2011
Back in the 1990s, it was hard to believe that Azerbaijan would become what it is today. Since the country gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has faced a lot of adversity such as the Armenian aggression, the occupation of 20 percent of its territories including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions, a flood of one million refugees and internally displaced people and a ravaged economy and infrastructure.
The only power that the nation possessed in those days was its courage and its charismatic and iron-willed leader, Heydar Aliyev. Having mobilised the nation, in a short span of time he managed to force the aggressor to sign a ceasefire agreement and garnered the mediatory services of an international organisation to tackle the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Despite unprecedented pressure by external forces, contracts were signed with oil companies such as BP, Amoco, Unocal, Statoil and others in 1995. Not only did Heydar Aliyev achieve the signing of the above-mentioned contract on the exploration of oil and gas reserves in the Absheron peninsula, he also insisted on the transportation of hydrocarbons via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean Jeyhan seaport, which laid the foundation for the economic and political freedom of Azerbaijan.
In 2003, President H Aliyev passed away and since then his successor, Ilham Aliyev – a young and energetic man, highly educated with a pragmatic approach towards tackling issues - has led the country, paving the way to the renaissance of Azerbaijan.
A country a population of nine and a half million people has become the leading power in Transcaucasia and, for a few years, had the fastest growing economy in the world. Having constructed Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan oil and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipelines, Azerbaijan began the Baku-Tbilisi–Gars railway project in order to link the country with Turkey and this geostrategic transport corridor will be completed in 2012. These projects are not only yielding substantive economic dividends, but also political ones since the country is ensuring the energy security of Europe.
Oil revenues accumulated in the Oil Fund are being used pragmatically for economic diversification. For instance, only the IT sector is expected to become more profitable than the oil sector by 2025. In a span of only 15 years, Azerbaijan has gone from being a country seeking loans to being an investor, financing projects in Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Central Asia, Afghanistan and owning $40 billion foreign exchange reserves.
The economic growth of Azerbaijan goes accompanied by an enormous construction boom, development of infrastructure, establishment of new factories and production units. The entire country has become one massive construction area with new highways, bridges, thousands of new houses, hundreds schools, hospitals and theatres.
The country enjoys aanother advantage in its fertile lands and mild climate which makes Azerbaijan self-sufficient in almost all foodstuff products and attracts tourists from all over the world to the resorts of the Caspian Sea and the Caucasian mountains.
The development in the country was not a stranger to culture and sports. The Azerbaijan Olympic team returned from the last Olympic Games with 7 medals and surprised Europe by the winning the Eurovision song contest.
The core issue of Azerbaijan-Nagorno Karabakh remains unsolved, despite four resolutions of the UN Security Council. This forced Azerbaijan to increase its military budget, which is now exceeding the entire budget of the country-aggressor, although the leadership of the country is determined to resolve this problem through peaceful means.
Azerbaijan is one of the few unique countries in the world, being situated on the border of Europe and Asia and integrated in the political structures of both continents. Being a member of the Council of Europe and the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe, Azerbaijan plays an active role in the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the Economic Cooperation Organisation. President Aliyev has done a lot for the promotion of Islamic values, which ware not encouraged during the Soviet era and made Azerbaijanis an integral part of the Muslim Ummah. The restoration of independence in Azerbaijan was happily welcomed by Pakistan, which was one of the first countries to recognise it. Pakistan and Azerbaijan have deep-rooted historical links with each other, enjoy strategic relations, always support each other in international forums and stand together during difficult times. Azerbaijan was amongst the first countries to help Pakistan after the natural calamities of 2005 and 2010. The name of the First Lady of the country and President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva will always remain in the hearts of Kashmiris, for whom she constructed and fully equipped a modern secondary school in Muzaffarabad in the place of the old one which was destroyed by an earthquake. pr
Link to article
