President Ilham Aliyev declared “Man of the Year”
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was proclaimed as the "Man of the Year" by the VIOAS Magazine (Voice of the Indian and Arabian Sea). On this occasion, the magazine dedicated its Christmas issue to Azerbaijan.
Ilham Aliyev- after 10 years in office -was re-elected Azerbaijan's president for another term with overwhelming support of his people. The publication noted President Aliyev has reduced poverty in the country by 90 percent and his vision is to double the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020.
"Few countries, if any, can match or even replicate what Azerbaijan has done over the last decade-high economic growth, rapid and deep poverty reduction and the rise of a modern and prosperous society. This would, of course, not have occurred had it not been for the strong, steady and popular leadership of Ilham Aliyev, who on 9th of October 2013, won a third term of office for another five years with 85 percent of the vote."
The author of the article, dedicated to the Head of State, James R. Mancham writes that he has monitored the October 9 presidential elections in Azerbaijan.
"I was one of those persons invited in my capacity as a Vice-President of CAPDI (Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International), to monitor this election-with my group being led by none other but the Honourable Jose de Venecia, who himself has been the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Philippines for many years," he said.
The author noted Ilham Aliyev became a reformist leader presiding over unprecedented growth, high profile foreign affairs and responsible for dramatically reducing poverty.
"On the eve of my departure from London to Baku by Azerbaijan Airline, I unexpectedly listened to a radio report about President Aliyev and Azerbaijan which projected a rather worrying picture and made me anticipate arriving in Baku to an atmosphere of tension.
Glad to say I have always been a believer in what I call "the tone level of a nation", which for me, is at times more revealing of the state and mood of a nation as opposed to statistics and professional political analysis. The tone level of a nation certainly projects the true feelings of the people and their expectations for today and tomorrow against the realistic background of prevailing circumstances," he said.
Mancham also said in his last electoral address to the nation President Aliyev was able to proclaim that Azerbaijan has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world over the last 10 years.
"Besides the remarkable increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the oil boom has also resulted in a three-fold increase in savings. In his last electoral address, President Aliyev spoke about his strategy "Azerbaijan 2020: Outlook for the future which sets the stage for the country's development over the coming years." Briefly, under this strategy, the country will double its per capita GDP by year 2020-and this will in turn move Azerbaijan from a traditional economy to a knowledge-based one, with the strategy focusing on infrastructure with particular emphasis on transport, urban services and private sector development," he noted.
The author noted higher public investment spending, supported by transfers from Azerbaijan's state oil fund SOFAZ, is expected to further spur growth in 2014.
"Therefore, Azerbaijan's energy output is expected to expand more as new gas field development now under exploration move to the state of exploration towards year 2015," he said.
Mancham believes a magazine like VIOAS chooses a leader from the Caucasus region of Central Asia as its "Man of the Year" tells us how much the world has changed over the last century with Azerbaijan becoming a model of incisive and inclusive development for most emerging countries.
"President Aliyev is representative of the statesmen-like qualities which combined with intelligent and resolute leadership are guiding the people of the once Third World towards modernity in the early years of the 21st century. Under today's globalization impact, the power balance is steadily shifting from Atlantic towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific," he noted.
The author said in 2011, Azerbaijan was elected as a Non-Permanent member of the UN Security Council "a role which it has discharged competently and with admiration under the wise leadership of its President."
Another article headlined "Azerbaijan makes important contribution to restoration of justice on international" was also published in the VIOAS Christmas issues.
The article reads that Azerbaijan made an important contribution to the restoration of justice on the international level and principles of international law during its presidency at the UN Security Council.
"Azerbaijan held the chairmanship of the UN Security Council in May 2012, and is chairing it again in October," the article read. "A number of important decisions were adopted, as well as important issues of the international peace and securities, were discussed during this period. Also, a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on strengthening the partnership between the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was held on Azerbaijan's initiative."
Earlier, the Azerbaijani President was honored with the Caspian Statesman of the Year Award.