President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended “Regions in transformation: Eurasia” session of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The head of state made a speech at the session.

President Ilham Aliyev said:
 

- Thank you very much. Talking about transformation in the region, as far as Azerbaijan is concerned, we should start from the very beginning when we became independent back in 1991. We took a commitment to build an independent state. At the same time, we had to build modern economy based on market economy principles. So the transformation for us was a transformation of political system because before independence we didn`t have any, and transformation from planned economy to market economy. And I think that these 23 years of independence are remarkable from the point of view of what a country can achieve if it has a policy of open doors, attracts investments and addresses main challenges of today. 

So, from economic point of view, the private sector accounts for 85 per cent of the Azerbaijani economy. The policy of diversification of economy is also successfully implemented. We are more and more free from the pressure of the oil prices. So, the biggest part of our economy is generated in non-energy sector. At the same time, a lot has been done in implementing the major infrastructure projects with assistance of international financial institutions, particularly EBRD and others. And now Azerbaijan already became a donor country. So, we are already financing several projects through IFC and other international financial instruments. 

Of course, energy security for us in the beginning was a means to develop because that was main energy resources we had. Now our energy resources play a role in the region. And just recently we launched a new major mega project, which is called Southern Gas Corridor to transport gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, which will probably be one of the biggest infrastructure projects of Europe. And Southern Gas Corridor is already a project which is being implemented. Diversification of economy is one of the important elements for every country, especially rich with oil and gas. And here, I think, we also can talk about some success. 

But, of course, a lot is to be done in the future, because we are living in the region, which is transforming not only from negative to positive, but, unfortunately, we have some deterioration in the region. We have more and more conflicts, more and more threats, including threats of terrorist attacks. And of course stability inside the country can be fully provided when you have more or less predictable situation beyond your borders. Therefore our energy and transportation projects are aimed at broad international and regional cooperation so that every country can benefit. And I think that the aim of the policy, which our government is pursuing, is that everybody should take advantage of our opportunities - producers, transitors, consumers. So it is kind of a team work which Azerbaijan managed to create. Today the region, where we are situated, is most able than ever before. But beyond our borders of the region situation is changing.

So the new challenges, of course, the drop of the oil price, are challenges for our economy. But I think we always need to find positive moments even if something negative is happening. So it will mobilize us to be more efficient, to spend less and to learn to live with low oil prices. That will be very useful for us when our resources will come to an end. 

For us, of course, the main challenge is conflict resolution because we have been suffering from the occupation by Armenia for more than 20 years. And for more than 20 years the negotiation processes has not led to any result. And I think that all the conflicts in the post-Soviet area and, in general, in the world must be treated from the same angle, the same approach, and the same international law norms must be applied. When one conflict is not resolved or is protracted then it paves the way for other conflicts. A lot has changed since I was here last time. We see new threats, which we could not even imagine that we will have. And these threats are no longer regional ones, they are global threats. We see terrible attacks in Europe, which were generated by destabilization and maybe by the fact that the issues that seem to be local, regional were not addresses in the right time. 

Our conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a regional conflict. But it has an impact on a broader scale from the point of view of geography and from the point of view of methodology. If you do not address this conflict based on international law, then you must be ready to see similar things in other parts of the world. And what is also important is that international law norms should not be interpreted by different countries with respect to their interests. They must be interpreted as they were written. There is a very clear definition in the United Nations charter, in documents of OSCE and other international organizations about priorities of the principles of international law. So all of them must be observed, and then we will avoid double standards and, more importantly, we will avoid, maybe reduce, the risks of new conflicts in our region.