Congratulations! Gas will now be supplied to Gunashli. This is a great event. Let me congratulate you on this occasion. There was only one settlement in Mingachevir without gas. There had never been gas here. But we have done it. Now I am told that the gas will be supplied to 2,000 users – 2,000 families, 2,000 households. I congratulate you on this wonderful event.

This suggests that the our policy towards gasification is yielding results. We have huge gas reserves, there are natural resources. We are now exporting gas to other countries. Therefore, these opportunities should first and foremost benefit the citizens of Azerbaijan. There is a task: to gasify 90 per cent of Azerbaijan’s enterprises and settlements. This is a very good indicator. There are remote villages in Azerbaijan where construction of gas lines may not be viable. We are solving the energy problems of such places in other ways. But we are ensuring that gas is supplied to major settlements - cities, towns and villages.

The State Oil Company has been doing a lot of work on gasification of Baku and all districts. Gas is supplied to more settlements almost every month. Old pipes are being replaced with new ones, pressures are getting normalized. This work shows that Azerbaijan has a very strong social policy.

I mentioned that we are exporting natural gas to other countries, and the export price is at least twice as high as at home. But this is a social issue for us. We must make sure that the citizens of Azerbaijan have a continuous supply of gas, electricity and water. The electricity problem has long been eliminated. Gasification is largely over, but problems of drinking water and sewage still remain. These are major problems for us now and in the coming years. We will make sure that all cities and districts of Azerbaijan have drinking water, that there are sewage lines. Indeed, most of our districts did not have sewage before. These issues require large funds. But the Azerbaijani government is and will be doing this so that our citizens could live better with every year.

I am told that there were gardens in the place of this settlement.

President Ilham Aliyev: Then it became a settlement, and people have been living here for many years. The Azerbaijani government must make sure that they live even better. Now that gas supply has started, you will see how many additional opportunities it creates, how much comfort it brings people. Besides, this is a very cheap form of energy. As you know, these prices are regulated by the government in Azerbaijan. We will never allow anyone to artificially raise these prices. The government controls that. We need to make the price affordable for our people. Compared with neighboring countries, we have very cheap electricity and gas. Therefore, the use of gas brings people economic benefit as well.

Let me congratulate you on this occasion again. I can see specialists of the State Oil Company here. Two days ago, I told a ceremony to lay the foundation for a new office building of the state oil company that after the transfer of Azerigaz into SOCAR’s subordination work started to go faster. The projects represented here today explicitly demonstrate our plans.

Azerbaijan has always provided and will continue to provide for its domestic needs. We are confidently accessing foreign markets. We export gas to neighboring republics. Although some countries produce several times more gas than we do, we export gas, oil, oil products and electricity. This suggests that Azerbaijani economy has a good foundation. It is a market-driven economy with solid state control. This is our approach.

My congratulations again!