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By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev took part in the “Regions in transformation: Eurasia” session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trend reports.

The head of state made a speech at the session, and then responded to questions from the audience.

In his speech the president said Azerbaijan became independent in 1991: “That was a major transformation for the region and also the biggest challenge for us, because we got an opportunity to build an independent state. We had to build a state and also modern economy, based on market economy principles.”

The president also spoke about the transformation that took place in Azerbaijan.

“Transformation for us was the transformation of the political system, because before independence we didn’t have any, and transformation of planned economy to market economy,” he added.

President Aliyev went on to add that from economic point of view, Azerbaijan’s economy now is 85 percent private sector, adding that the policy of diversification of economy is also successfully implemented.

He said Azerbaijan is getting more and more independent from the pressure of oil prices. “At the same time, a lot has been done in implementing major infrastructure projects, with assistance from international financial institutions in particular EBRD and others,” President Aliyev noted.

He further said Azerbaijan has already become a donor country.

“We ourselves already finance several projects,” the president added. “Now, our energy resources play role in the region, and just recently we launched a new mega-project, which is called the Southern Gas Corridor, to transport gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, which will probably be one of the biggest infrastructure projects of Europe.”

He also noted that the diversification of economy is one of the most important elements for every country, especially those rich with oil and gas.

The Azerbaijani president further said that there are conflicts and threats in the region, including threats of terrorist attacks.

“And of course stability in the country can be provided fully when you, more or less, have predictable situation beyond it. Therefore our energy and transportation projects are aimed at broad national and regional cooperation, so that every country can benefit,” he added.

The president said the policy Azerbaijani government pursues is that everybody - producers, transit countries, consumers - should take advantage of opportunities.

“So it is a kind of teamwork, which Azerbaijan managed to create,” he added.

Azerbaijan has been suffering from the occupation of Armenia for over 20 years, and the negotiation process doesn’t lead to any results, President Aliyev said while speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“I think that all the conflicts in the post-Soviet area, and in the world in general, must be treated from the same angle, same approach,” the president said. “Also the same international law norms must be applied.”

He noted that when a conflict is not resolved and is protracted, it leads the way to other conflicts.

The president further expressed disappointment with what is being observed in the post-Soviet era, noting that that tensions are today seen not only in the Middle East.

“A lot has changed, since I was here the last time,” the president said. “We have new threats that we couldn’t even imagine we would have. And they are no longer regional, but global. We see these terrible attacks in Europe, which were generated by destabilization and maybe by not addressing the right time the issues which seemed to be local or regional.”

President Aliyev said the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a regional conflict, but it has an impact on a broader scale both from geographical and methodological point of view.

“If you don't resolve and address this conflict based on international law, then you must be ready to see similar things in other parts of the world,” he said.

The president added that it is also important that the international law norms should not be interpreted by different countries with respect to their interests.

“They must be interpreted as they are written,” the president said, adding that there is a very clear definition in the UN Charter, OSCE documents and other international organizations about the priorities of the principles of international law.

“All of them must be observed, then we will avoid double standards, and more importantly - we will avoid, and, maybe, reduce the risks of new conflicts in our region,” he noted.

Answering to a question on the Ukrainian conflict’s impact on the situation in the post-Soviet countries, President Ilham Aliyev said from practical point of view, nobody in Azerbaijan feels impact from the Ukrainian conflict

However, the president said, from the political point of view, it is not a preferable situation for any country that has good, friendly relations with Russia and Ukraine.

“Of course we share the pain of people who lost their relatives, and this tragedy unfortunately continues. Innocent people are being killed from both sides, and the sooner all this comes to an end, the better,” he added.

The president said Azerbaijan is a country which has suffered from war and occupation itself.

“Every war ends with ceasefire, then, preferably peace agreement must be signed,” he added. “What is important is how the governments of Russia and Ukraine treat their partners, what is the level of understanding in the governments of these countries, in the position of their partners, because we are all CIS members, we all were members of Soviet Union."

Noting that Azerbaijan has a lot of connections, the president said that one million of Azerbaijanis live in Russia and more than 500,000 live in Ukraine.

The president said Azerbaijan’s position on territorial integrity is very clear and straightforward, and no one can expect any other position from the country.

“Having in mind international law norms and our situation with Armenia, I am glad that the Russian government and the leadership understand the position of Azerbaijan, and they respect this position,” the president said, adding, “And we have discussed it on high level with my colleagues in Russia. The same, I hope, is the situation with the Ukrainian government.”

“We didn’t have a chance to have a contact but I think they also should understand that for us Russia is a good friend, reliable partner, big neighbor. We have a lot of contacts, a lot of trade, mutual interests. The way how the relations between Russia and Azerbaijan develop is a good indicator of how the relations between big and small country can be managed, it is a good indicator,” he said.

The president noted that the countries like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and some others have their own agenda, their own position, and they do not want to damage relations with Russia or Ukraine.

“And they want the soonest resolution of this conflict, first of all because of victims, because of tragedy, because this situation is not comfortable,” he added.

The president also expressed hope that soon there will be ceasefire and then agreements.

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