Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

The first South Caucasus Forum co-organized by Nizami Ganjavi International Center and Club de Madrid and supported by Azerbaijan's State Committee for Work with Diaspora started in Baku on Tuesday.

President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva attended the opening ceremony of the forum, which brings together more than 300 foreign experts, high-ranking officials, former heads of state and government, and scholars.

In his opening remarks, co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, director of the Library of Alexandria, Ismail Serageldin, stressed the importance of the South Caucasus Forum. He thanked the Azerbaijani government for the excellent organization of the event.

Addressing the event, President Aliyev said Azerbaijan is one of the few countries in the world which is simultaneously a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Council of Europe and with the support of 155 countries it was elected to the UN Security Council for 2012-2013.

"Azerbaijan is a country with great history, traditions, culture, and one of the organizers of the forum, the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, is named in honor of the great Azerbaijani poet and philosopher," he said.

President Aliyev went on to say that while talking about the South Caucasus, one can see an excellent example of cooperation between Georgia and Azerbaijan, and a very bad experience with another neighbor in the South Caucasus, referring to Armenia, with which Azerbaijan faces a long-standing conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not only the biggest threat to us, but also the biggest threat to regional development, peace and stability in the region," Aliyev said.

The President says the South Caucasus should be more integrated to ensure sustainable development of the region. However, he said, this is not possible without a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the liberation of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

"Nagorno-Karabakh is an inseparable part of Azerbaijan, an ancient Azerbaijani land, which has been occupied for more than 20 years. And not only Nagorno-Karabakh, but also seven surrounding regions are under occupation," President Aliyev said.

The President said more than 20 years have passed, but, unfortunately, the UN Security Council resolutions have not yet been implemented.

"We are stronger than we were before, and we'll find a way to resolve this conflict," Aliyev stated.

He said that over the centuries, Azerbaijan has been a land where representatives of different religions and ethnic groups have coexisted.

"Azerbaijan's experience shows that multiculturalism has a great future, and in this respect there is no alternative," he said. "An alternative to multiculturalism is self-isolation, discrimination, racism, and we cannot allow the prevalence of such trends in the 21st century."

Aliyev said Azerbaijan will continue to grow and expressed the country's commitment to political and economic reforms.

On the fast-growing South Caucasus republic's economic and social achievements, the President said, "Over the past ten years, Azerbaijan's GDP has tripled, which is a world record. Also, the country has managed to reduce the poverty rate from 50 percent to six percent, and the unemployment rate - to 5 percent."

President Aliyev also said that Azerbaijan is actively investing in modern technology.

"We are working closely with our international partners to develop a strong aerospace industry in Azerbaijan," the President said.

Moreover, he said, investments in the energy sector have allowed Azerbaijan to create a favorable investment climate in the country.

"Azerbaijan occupies a leading position in the region on the volume of foreign investment per capita," Aliyev said. "Fair distribution of wealth, investment in infrastructure, human capital, and, above all, in education, are the goals of the government, as education is the foundation of success."

The President believes that the diversification of transport routes, modern infrastructure, and of course, the oil factor, will certainly play a role in the future and will facilitate further development of the country.

Oil and gas pipelines running through Georgia and Turkeyactually completely changed the energy map of the region, President Aliyev added.

"Our energy policy is based on cooperation and mutual benefit. And I believe that the history of the past decade clearly demonstrates the greater effectiveness of this approach," Aliyev said.

Other speakers at the event included Queen Noor of Jordan, former President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and President of the Club de Madrid Wim Kok.

Vaira Vike-Freiberga called upon international organizations to exercise a more substantial approach to the issue of refugees and internally displaced persons. "We believe that the EU and the UN will treat this issue more thoroughly," she said.

"I was one of the seven million people who became displaced persons in the period of World War II. We were forced to live in an alien atmosphere. World leaders should not create possibilities for the persecution of people," she stressed in her speech at the forum.

Vike-Freiberga termed Club de Madrid a very favorable format for discussions, in the frame of which former leaders share experience and opinions.

The South Caucasus Forum being held in Baku is an event which will reverberate in other countries, Akkan Suver, the president of Marmara Group Foundation, said at the forum.

Suver noted the importance of the forum in terms of piece and prosperity of the region and believes it will become a guideline not only for Azerbaijan and the Caucasus countries, but also for the Balkan and Middle East countries.

According to Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, creations of Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi have maintained topicality until the present day.

"Works of great Azerbaijani poet and thinker Nizami Ganjavi preserve their topicality today, as he advocated for political reforms, international dialog and cooperation between nations," she said.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said at the event that hundreds of thousands of Georgian and Azerbaijani citizens are unable to return to their homes because they don't belong to them any longer for certain political reasons.

"As a result, people cannot get to the places where their loved ones are buried. All this is the games of powerful forces," Saakashvili said.

Saakashvili expressed hope that in the future the South Caucasus could become a united region in which Armenia would be included.

"I hope that over the long term, the South Caucasus will become a united region, because Armenia needs ties with its neighbors and it cannot remain an isolated country. I am sure that we will be able to integrate Armenia into this common stability zone. But this should happen as part of political liberalization and not just due to the opening of a railroad to Georgia and joining the Kars-Akhalkalaki project, which is strategic for us," Saakashvili said.

He noted the importance of Azerbaijan as a country rich in energy resources.

"Azerbaijan is a good example of stability, economic strength and an independent policy in the Caspian region," Saakashvili said.

According to him, Azerbaijan's foreign policy should remain the same.

"The world should not allow destabilization of this country. We saw the consequences of an independent course based on the example of my country. Nobody was expecting that such processes would take place in Georgia, but it did happen. But Azerbaijan is a strong and successful state, and we hope it will stay that way. We wish the same for ourselves, as we learn from our mistakes."

Besides the Azerbaijani and Georgian Presidents, Club de Madrid members, Nizami Ganjavi International Center members, and over 200 high-level experts, stakeholders, scholars and civil society representatives from 40 countries are participating in the forum.