- I sincerely greet and congratulate you on the opening of the Sumgayit central city hospital after major overhaul. It is a great and remarkable event. The hospital is being given a new life. It has all the necessary departments. I am sure that it will provide qualified services, and patients will be returned to their homes after making full recovery.

There was a great need for the reconstruction of the hospital. As you know, the previous state of the hospital was not very good and it had limited opportunities to provide qualified medical services. It was built many years ago and got outdated.

Of course, there was a need for major overhaul. At present, modern hospitals are built in every region of our country. The goal has been to establish at least one modern hospital in every city of our country. But when we consider that 15 diagnostic and treatment centers have been built in the regions in recent years, some cities now have two or three medical institutions meeting the latest requirements.

Thus, a lot has been done to develop the healthcare system and strengthen its material and technical infrastructure. In general, I can say that about 500 healthcare facilities have been built or renovated over the last 10 years. It is hard to imagine the potential condition of our healthcare system if we hadn’t done that.

This is only part of the work done. Of course, the renovation of hospitals and their provision with cutting-edge equipment are very important factors for the development of the healthcare system. But at the same time, there is a great need for improving the quality of medical services. Of course, this is where the knowledge and skills of doctors play a role and will continue to do so. I am aware that special programs to improve the skills of doctors are prepared, issues of their participation in international developments are addressed and there is an exchange of information. In other words, doctors must always work hard so that we could apply all the innovations of the rapidly evolving medical science to Azerbaijan.

In addition, the construction of hospitals will be continued in Azerbaijan. I have repeatedly pointed out and want to say again that Azerbaijan is a welfare state. Our policy is centered on citizens of Azerbaijan. Of course, health is very important for everyone. We must try to make sure that people do not lose their health and are provided with a highly qualified medical service. We will continue to give appropriate instructions to this end.

I can also say that the work carried out in this field in Azerbaijan is highly assessed by international organizations. The World Health Organization points to the positive trends in healthcare reforms in Azerbaijan. Of course, this inspires us even more. I am sure that additional measures will be taken in the coming years to improve the healthcare system.

There shouldn’t be a single health facility, medical institution, outpatient clinic or rural medical facility without renovation or in poor condition in Azerbaijan. Of course, this work should first be done in big cities, then in all cities and then in all settlements where there are hospitals and medical centers.

Thus, I believe that we have successfully implemented this project, which is very important for Sumgayit. In general, we are taking all necessary measures to improve public health in Azerbaijan. Of course, medical services are in the foreground, but there are other factors that contribute to people's health. We approach these issues comprehensively.

For a city such as Sumgayit, which was once a major industrial center, the adoption of comprehensive measures is essential. Following the opening of the Takhtakorpu water reservoir and the Takhtakorpu-Jeyranbatan canal a few days ago, the supply of drinking water to Sumgayit will further improve although 83 per cent of its population already has continuous supply of clean drinking water. Some of these issues have already been resolved. But the city's population will continue to grow. There will be new businesses here, so the demand for drinking and process water will grow.

The environmental situation in Sumgayit is always in the spotlight. In Soviet times, the environmental situation in Sumgayit was unpleasant. We know that. Unfortunately, the old information and data still circulate in the world media today. But the truth is that today Sumgayit is one of the cleanest cities. The enterprises that used to pollute the air have ceased to exist, while new enterprises are built on the basis of very high environmental standards.

Sumgayit is a green city with clean air, pleasant climate and beautiful scenery. Sumgayit is a city of parks and gardens. It is not inferior even to Baku for the number of parks. I am very glad that the process of reconstruction of these parks is under way in Sumgayit. Over the past 10 years I have been to Sumgayit more than a dozen times. The development of Sumgayit is constantly in the spotlight. I am very pleased that issues related to this important sphere are also being resolved. Sumgayit is a city of parks, gardens and trees. It is a green city where reconstruction is under way. Many buildings are overhauled. Traditional recreation areas of Sumgayit are rebuilt. Development, refurbishment and creative work here should be at the same level as in Baku.

Sumgayit is approaching Baku now. From a geographical point of view we can say that it is joining Baku. There are no empty spaces between Baku and Sumgayit. There is construction of private houses and multi-storey buildings. But Sumgayit should not be inferior to Baku in terms of the living standards because it is a large city with a great history and hardworking people. Sumgayit is the second largest industrial center of the South Caucasus after Baku. I think this is also significant because the biggest two industrial cities of the South Caucasus are Azerbaijani cities. The development of Sumgayit as an industrial center is already becoming a reality. I spoke about that a decade ago. During the opening of a large power plant here in 2004, I said that the construction of this plant would boost industrial development in Sumgayit. And it did.

Dozens of factories and plants have been opened in Sumgayit over the past few years. All of them are at the level of world standards. Today, the Sumgayit industrial park stands out on a global scale.

After seeing this industrial park, foreign visitors, even those from developed countries, note that it is a truly modern industrial park. It currently has 14 plants, while the construction of five more is under way. The construction of a fertilizer plant has started in Sumgayit. This is also a very important sector for our country. I attended the opening ceremony of a solar panels plant. When I last came here I attended the opening of a knitting factory. Jobs are opening there too, especially for women, and Sumgayit will soon become a major textile industry center because the number of textile factories will gradually grow.

And today we will lay the foundation of the Sumgayit chemical industry park. It is a very important event for our country because it will be a new industrial estate. Dozens of plants will be built in the chemical industry park. All of them will be built by the private sector. The state simply implements all infrastructure projects, allocates space, railway and electricity, and creates the necessary conditions for investors. This process has already begun.

The establishment of a new environmentally friendly chemical industry park in Sumgayit further demonstrates the benefits of our independence. The chemical plants built here at one time did not comply with environmental standards. As a matter of fact, no-one cared about the environment in Soviet times. There was simply a requirement to produce products at any cost.

But today, the human factor is in the foreground in the independent Azerbaijan, which is a welfare state. Therefore, all the plants that are and will be created here must comply with global environmental standards. The establishment of the chemical industry park will contribute to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs. Major companies will create large enterprises, which will be followed by small and medium entrepreneurs establishing their businesses to manufacture finished products on the basis of the goods produced by these large plants.

Therefore, people from other regions will also come to work for all these factories in Sumgayit in the future. This process has already begun. We are now observing an influx of labor from neighboring regions and surrounding places.

So this is how I see Sumgayit: in the future it should become one of the largest industrial centers in the South Caucasus, one of the largest industrial centers throughout the world and, at the same time, an environmentally friendly, beautiful and comfortable place for people to live and work in. Given the nature of Sumgayit and its access to the sea, the city should become a center of industry, tourism, culture and leisure in a broad sense. This is how I see Sumgayit. I think that a lot has been done to achieve these goals, and the people of Sumgayit have been actively involved in all this work. I congratulate you all on these successes! I am sure that all our plans will be materialized in the future. I congratulate you again!