President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev wishing citizens of the country Happy New Year and International Day of Solidarity with the Azerbaijani People spoke about economic success of the country in 2018.
The leader of the country said that today Azerbaijan is independent in its economic development. “The economy of Azerbaijan is independent. This is the factor which strengthens our independent policy. This year, we have seen the growth of GDP, the non-oil sector, and industrial production. The non-oil industry grew more than by 9 per cent. Our export increased by 40 per cent. $10 billion were invested in our economy. According to Doing Business Program of the World Bank, Azerbaijan took the 25th place in the world. It means our changes, transparency, serious economic reforms are fruitful, and the World Bank appreciates this,” Ilham Aliyev stated.
At the same time, President stressed that the country pays serious attention to modern technologies. “This year, we has launched our third satellite to the orbit. It’s a big deal. Azerbaijan is one of a few members of the international space club and we are improving our positions in the sphere,” Ilham Aliyev said.
He also noted that several important projects were started in 2018. “We officially opened the South Gas Corridor. We marked the great event in May. It’s a huge historic achievement. In June, TANAP was officially opened and we got wide opportunities for finalization of the South Gas Corridor. It’s our historic achievement. The Azerbaijani People are going to see benefits from the projects over long years. We also opened the Alyat Trade Port. It’s also a historic project,” the Azerbaijani leader stated.
According to President, Azerbaijan is turning into an important transport center not only in the region but also in Eurasia. “The North-South Corridor and the East-West Corridor pass through our territory. The powerful transport infrastructure enables us to use our transit options more effectively,” President said.
He also added that Azerbaijan and many foreign countries marked the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic in 2018. “Modern Azerbaijan is a successor of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic. Azerbaijan has never been such a strong, independent, and free country as today,” AzerTag cited President of Azerbaijan.
Speaking about the presidential elections which were held in 2018, Ilham Aliyev said that the Azerbaijani people expressed its trust and highly assessed his work. “During 15 years, I have been trying to serve our people properly as a president. I will try to do all my best for development of Azerbaijan, its strengthening, and raising the well-being of the people in the future. I have one goal only: to build a strong Azerbaijani state and serve the people properly,” President concluded.
