PRESIDENT ILHAM ALIYEV ATTENDS CONFERENCE AT BELGIAN ROYAL INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
AzerTag, Azerbaijan
Nov 8 2006
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the Conference
"Azerbaijan-EU: partnership reaching beyond energy" which took place at
the Belgian Royal Institute for International Relations on November 7.
Ambassadors plenipotentiary and extraordinary and permanent
representatives to international organizations of several countries,
renowned Belgian politicians and political scientists, as well as
representatives of various international organizations including
the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament were
present at the Conference.
Director General of the Institute Claude MISSON thanked the Azerbaijani
leader for coming and introduced him to the audience.
President Ilham Aliyev spoke to the conference.
He thanked for the invitation and informed the audience on the
meetings he had in Brussels. The President said integration into
Europe is Azerbaijan’s priority, and this visit has created a good
basis for further enhancement of Azerbaijan-EU cooperation.
He said that despite the bitter consequences of the Armenian military
aggression and the deep crisis Azerbaijan was facing in the first
years of independence, it has managed to safeguard its statehood and
realize political and economic reforms. The President mentioned the
EU’s support to the country to achieve that.
The Head of State said cooperation with the European Union is very
important to Azerbaijan noting the EU will also benefit from that.
The President described Azerbaijan as a country carrying out an
open-door policy, and having very favorable investment opportunities.
He said the country has achieved world’s highest economic growth rate,
and turned into a leading state in the region.
Dwelling on the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
President Ilham Aliyev once again expressed his country’s positions
towards the problem. Armenia’s acting in defiance of international
legal norms and pursuing the policy supporting separatist is he said
the main reason for why the conflict has not yet been resolved.
The President answered questions from the audience.