Succession in politics: 26 years that changed Azerbaijans' fate and face
Dynamic economic growth, transnational projects and revolutionary reforms
According to statistics, there is no second country which has developed so much as Azerbaijan in the last 16 years. It is an open secret that the renovation of infrastructure, the well-being of people and army building are, first of all, dependent on economic power. The foundation of Azerbaijan’s economic growth was laid with the Contract of the Century, which our great leader achieved with strenuous efforts.
Since we talked about it above, we would like to bring one fact only: when Ilham Aliyev was elected president in 2003, the State Oil Fund had just 800 million US dollars. Today, the assets of the Fund are close to 43 billion US dollars. Azerbaijan has gained more than 143 billion US dollars in revenues since 2001 from the project of development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil and gas fields block.
Of course, it is not only about money, but also about purposeful and efficient use of oil revenues. There are some countries rich with oil, but they live in poverty.
As for our country, the key advantage of the modern oil strategy is about spending revenues on the diversification of the economy and social progress and turning the oil capital into the human capital. We can see the results of this wise policy in every corner of our country and every area of life – in the renewed face of Azerbaijan. Every citizen can see and feel it in his everyday life.
The number of appeals to the "ASAN Xidmət" centers, which was designed to simplify the life of people and eliminate bureaucracy and corruption, has exceeded 33 million. Only this year, minimum salaries were almost doubled and minimum pension was increased by 70 per cent. The package of revolutionary social reforms initiated by President Ilham Aliyev has positively affected the budgets of more than 4 million people.
The scale of gas supplies to households in our country has reached 95 per cent (it is a rare indicator in international practice). Once unable to supply itself with electricity, Azerbaijan now exports electricity to the countries of the region. Roads with a total length of 15,000 kilometers, more than 440 bridges, 4 new metro stations, the biggest international sea trade port in Baku’s Alat settlement, more than 3,200 newly built or renovated schools and about 650 healthcare facilities are just an incomplete list of the infrastructure projects over the past 16 years.
The transnational projects implemented under the leadership of Ilham Aliyev have a scale to change the energy and transport map of the world. These projects, which started with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline founded by our national leader Heydar Aliyev in 2002, have been complemented with the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, the South Gas Corridor and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project. Work has almost been completed in the Azerbaijani parts of the North-South and East-West transport corridors.
Finally, another important point: Ilham Aliyev has included Azerbaijan into the rank of a handful of space-faring nations. Now, we have three satellites in the orbit, while once we could only dream about it.
As can be seen, succession in politics is turning legends and illusions into a reality.
