A COUNTRY`S FUTURE DETERMINED NOT BY ECONOMIC SUCCESS ALONE

The country's dyna-mic development constantly requires corrections to the system of national development priorities. This is the logic behind Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's speech at the 5 February presentation ceremony of his Man of the Year award, founded by the ANS Group of Companies and the Cingiz Mustafayev Foundation, set up in memory of Azerbaijani national hero Cingiz Mustafayev. As in most of his public appearances, President Aliyev gave an assessment of the current state of the country's economic development and set out its present priorities in domestic and foreign policy. 

The head of state paid particular attention to economic development, stressing that it was founded on the successful implementation of energy projects. Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan has become an irreplaceable and reliable partner for Europe in ensuring its energy security. Economic reforms, the growth in industrial production, the ten-fold increase in budget revenue and effective energy policy together with domestic social and political stability and the country's active regional role are all factors of historic significance for the country's development and lie at the foundation of the process of reinforcing its regional and international positions. 

President Aliyev quoted the ratings of leading world companies and the recent report by the Davos World Economic Forum. Traditionally, since 1979, a group of academics and experts at the World Economic Forum has prepared comprehensive reviews of the social and economic development of the countries before every Davos summit. These reviews are an indicator or beacon for investors and the world's business and political leaders who take decisions on countries and markets. This year the World Economic Forum expert group, made up of the forum's leading economists, compiled its latest review, creating global competitiveness indices for 131 countries that enjoy confidence in the international business community. In 2007 the index was calculated on the basis of parameters taking into account social, financial, political, economic, investment, institutional and other aspects of development in every country. Azerbaijan came 66th out of 131 countries in the review of 2007, overtaking dynamically developing Vietnam, Brazil, Ukraine and even new European Union members Romania and Bulgaria. Azerbaijan outstripped all the CIS countries in every parameter with the exception of Russia and Kazakhstan, but even in comparison with these two countries it has precedence on key indices such as macroeconomic stability, infrastructure development, the level of innovative development of the economy and development of the private sector. 

The president has often said that not one single serious regional project can be implemented without Azerbaijan. This time the thesis was specified in relation to neighbouring Armenia - until the occupied territories are liberated, Azerbaijan considers any cooperation with the aggressor state to be impossible.

As before, the head of state concentrated on the strengthening of Azerbaijan's defence capacity. He said that he would continue the policy of increasing the military budget and developing military industry, adding that Azerbaijan's first batch of military output had already rolled off the production line. Commenting on the state of play in the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement, Ilham Aliyev made it clear that the advances evident in the process first of all reflect the increase in Azerbaijan's potential in the economic, political, energy and military spheres. 

The protection of the rights and interests of our fellow Azerbaijanis in neighbouring countries - Russia, Georgia and Iran - was an important aspect of President Aliyev's speech. Azerbaijan should not stand apart from problems concerned with improving their welfare and security. 

The president also talked about the modernization of the political system and democratization in the country. The country's future is measured not only by economic factors, he said. Without the formation of a modern political system and the full confirmation of democratic principles in social development, the economic successes achieved will be only temporary, the president continued. Without parallel economic and political reforms society could stagnate, he said. This is an extremely important and new aspect of his public statements, which both reflects the country's real need for the further modernization of its political system and gives a response to attempts by opposition circles and some countries to say that Azerbaijan is lagging behind in the development of democracy and human rights. The head of state warned against attempts to use the topic of human rights to interfere in the country's internal affairs. He said that in the conditions in which Azerbaijan finds itself today democratic development is at as high a level as possible - all the main freedoms are guaranteed in the country - freedom of speech, assembly, political activity and private economic activity. 

The theme of the need to modernize the country and society has always run through the president's speeches. But especially important today is the head of state's new emphasis in his approach to the issue, at the heart of which is the idea that the successful modernization of the country is possible only through the parallel conduct of economic and political reforms which are equally weighted and inextricably linked sides of the process.