The Business Year, which is headquartered in London, is considered one of the most respected publications covering social and economic processes in the world. The Business Year has released more than two dozen special issues dedicated to the socio-economic situation and development of trends, business and investment climate, leading structures of various countries, and other issues. The scope of the journal includes 30 countries, including Azerbaijan, which occupies a special place there.
An interview with Ilham Aliyev is included in a special issue of 'The Business Year: Azerbaijan-2015'. Asked about the fact that Azerbaijan is now in "a new global context in the sector of energy geopolitics" (Aliyev spoke about it at the World Economic Forum in Davos), the President said:
Starting from 2008, the World Economic Forum has mainly been discussing ways out of the economic and financial recession. This year’s anniversary session of the Forum called New Global Context focused on development and stability, cooperation in eliminating crises and their implications, society and security, innovation, and other issues. The primary objective of such discussions and opinion exchanges against the backdrop of global political and economic cataclysms is to determine and promote a new model of coexistence that would pave the way for development, progress, and mutually beneficial cooperation.
We are living in a region prone to tensions, conflict, threats, and terrorism; however, mutually beneficial cooperation is possible when the situation outside the country is more or less predictable. Therefore, the policies and the gigantic transnational projects Azerbaijan is implementing are aimed at creating a more predictable environment in the region and beyond. Azerbaijan plays an active part in the establishment of regional transport corridors and modern transport infrastructure. Both East-West andNorth-South transport corridors pass through Azerbaijan. As a result of the commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway in 2015, Azerbaijan will also become a country linking Europe with Asia.The largest trade seaport in the Caspian basin is being built in Azerbaijan. This is phase I of the new Baku International Trade Seaport.
Azerbaijan aspires to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and other similar conflicts in accordance with international law. We have been subjected to Armenian aggression for more than 20 years. Unfortunately, the double standards existing in the world and an equal treatment of the aggressor
and the victim do not facilitate conflict settlement. All conflicts in post-Soviet republics, and indeed elsewhere in the world, should be approached from the same angle because if one conflict re-mains unresolved, this sets a precedent for other conflicts. As was mentioned at the Forum, we are at a crossroads in 2015; there is a road leading to discrimination, fundamentalism, hatred, and mutual accusations, but there is also a road to solidarity and cooperation. Azerbaijan’s model of development, cooperation, and integration can lay the groundwork for the predictability of political and economic processes and protection of common interests.
