Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The Azerbaijan-U.S. forum 'Vision of the future' opened in Baku on May 29 over the 21st anniversary of cooperation between the two countries. The event was attended by representatives of government agencies, diplomats and experts.

President Ilham Aliyev also attended the forum and addressed the participants.

Opening the event, President Aliyev said the Baku Forum will be another contribution to the strategic partnership of the two countries.

The U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship has great history, not a big one, but very important, he emphasized.

"Since early years of our independence, we established a strong partnership relationship, which transformed into a strategic one. We have very close political contacts, our political dialogue on high level is very active. We have various contacts in economic cooperation, trade, investments," President Aliyev said.

He said the two countries cooperate in the areas of energy security, economic diversification, and political reforms.

"Cooperation in security area is also very important for both countries. And I am glad that now this cooperation enters new stage. We are working together on issues of global security. Our soldiers, shoulder-to-shoulder provide assistance and support to Afghanistan. Azerbaijan provides almost 40 percent of transit to Afghanistan and the Northern distribution network is considered to be one of the most reliable and stable," President Aliyev said.

The U.S. was the key player in implementation of projects in Azerbaijan related to opening the Caspian Sea to foreign investors, the president said, adding that Azerbaijan had a very strong support.

Today, when Azerbaijan has implemented major strategic energy projects, related to upstream and downstream transportation, the country is working very closely with its European partners on Southern Gas Corridor. Azerbaijan is the initiator of Southern Gas Corridor. Azerbaijan is a country which is recognized by the European Union as main supplier, President Aliyev said.

"This project will allow us to export huge gas reserves of Azerbaijan to European markets, and to provide economic cooperation, economic security for Europe. At the same time it will allow us to increase substantially our export potential. I think we found a very good balance between producers, transitors and consumers. We work closely on this trilateral format," President Aliyev underscored.

He said though none of this gas is going to reach the U.S. territory, the Washington is strongly supporting this strategic project, because it is really the project of the future, the project of economic diversification, energy diversification, regional cooperation, cooperation between Azerbaijan and Europe.

According to President Aliyev, Azerbaijan managed to use properly the revenues from energy sector, to reinvest in different sectors of the economy, in infrastructure, and also to implement very radical economic and political reforms. "And this is our strategy - we implement economic and political reforms in parallel. Because having only strong economy, and strong energy sector and even diversified economy will not mean that we will be able to develop successfully in the long term," he said.

President Aliyev underlined that the country's cooperation with NATO and EU is part of its strategic foreign policy agenda.

He said Azerbaijan has a very strong position in the Muslim world, and it is a part of that world.

"At the same time we are in the Council of Europe. So we are a natural geographic, political, and cultural bridge," President Aliyev underscored. "By the way, tomorrow we will have Second International Forum on dialogue of civilizations, where Azerbaijan is playing its role as a model of religious tolerance, peaceful co-existence of different representatives of religions and ethnic groups."

President Aliyev said economic and political reforms helped the country to transform.

According to President Aliyev, the indicator of success is diversification, creation of opportunities for business, strong social policy, investments, education and knowledge.

"And I can tell that for the last 10 years we have had remarkable economic growth. GDP grew by 3 times, but the most important is that poverty level dropped from 50 percent to 6 percent, and this is the reflection of proper use of our assets," President Aliyev said.

"We are very proud that Azerbaijani State Oil Fund is among the most transparent sovereign wealth funds in the world. We managed to reduce the unemployment down to 5.2 percent, and in the coming years with new huge investments I am sure it will decrease even more. We have also a very stable financial situation. Our foreign reserves are equal to 70 percent of our GDP, while direct foreign debt is 7 percent of the GDP," he said.

President Aliyev said that relationship between Azerbaijan and the U.S. played a very important role in the country's transformation.

"The U.S. has always been side-by-side with us in our reforms, transformation, in energy security, regional security, and today we continue this fruitful cooperation. And I think that today's forum is a very clear example of that. I am sure that the forum will have very interesting discussions, open, sincere, exchange of views on how we go on, in order to continue friendship and partnership between our countries and our nations," he noted.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov spoke at the forum as well. The minister said that Azerbaijan is an ally of the West in the energy sector and in light of the overall security mission in Afghanistan.

The relations between Azerbaijan and the United States are developing in various areas, and both sides are making an effort in this regard, Mammadyarov said.

"Azerbaijan has helped and will assist in cargo supply for NATO to Afghanistan, and fully supports international security efforts in different regions of the world. Safety is the most important point in our policy," he said.

Regarding the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Mammadyarov voiced regret over the occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

"Unfortunately, despite the four resolutions of the UN Security Council, our territory is still under occupation. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict directly affects the development of the region. About a million refugees have not returned to their homes. The Armenian authorities' actions hurt not only Baku, but also the people of Armenia and the development of the entire region," Mammadyarov said.

Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan has a strategic geopolitical location, connecting the East and West, and is one of the unique places where people of different nationalities live peacefully side by side and where multicultural dialogue is advanced.

Former U.S. House of Representatives member Bill Richardson said at the forum that the United States and Azerbaijan will continue to take steps to boost bilateral relations.

Richardson said Washington and Baku are forging a good partnership in various fields. He added, "We welcome Azerbaijan's economic and democratic reforms."

Sen. Richard Lugar, for his part, said that Azerbaijan plays an important role in ensuring the energy security of U.S. allies such as the EU countries.

Lugar said that the U.S. and Azerbaijan cooperate in many fields.

"I have been working with Azerbaijan for a long time. I am still amazed at the development of this country," he said.

The session was moderated by Yashar Aliyev, special envoy of Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry and the country's former ambassador to the United States.

As part of the convention, the following sessions on topics was held: "The State of the Azerbaijan-US Strategic Partnership: US Foreign Policy toward Azerbaijan", "Energy Security from the Caspian to Europe: the Changing World Energy Security Dynamics: New prospects for the Southern Energy Corridor", "Azerbaijan between East and West", "Eurasian Security and Cooperation: Azerbaijan's Role in Regional Peace and Stability", etc.

The Closing Session was dedicated to the topic "Strategic Partnership between US and Azerbaijan: Next Steps to Be Taken".