He made the remarks in his opening speech at the 5th News Agencies World Congress in Baku, Nov. 16.
Noting that Azerbaijan had to find its own place on the world map, the president went on to add that these years have shown Azerbaijan achieving its main targets.
"Azerbaijan today is a country with a good reputation on international arena. Only one fact is worth to mention to demonstrate that several years ago Azerbaijan was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the highest international body. And we got that seat with the support of 155 countries. So the majority of international community, even countries which do not have very active political contacts with Azerbaijan, supported our candidacy," said the president.
"That was a sign of support, sign of appreciation of our activity, our international behavior, as a responsible, reliable, reasonable partner," Ilham Aliyev said. "Also, this broad support was generated by the fact that Azerbaijan is a country with independent foreign policy, which is aimed at cooperation, broadening regional cooperation, international cooperation."
"Our foreign policy is based on our national interests and is not aimed against anyone. But at the same time, Azerbaijan is a country with dignity and our future is in our hands," said Ilham Aliyev. "Therefore, these factors, along with, of course, rapid economic and political development of Azerbaijan played the most important role."
The president said that Azerbaijan works in different international organizations and in all these organizations we promote the values of justice and international law.
"Azerbaijan is one of the few countries of the world which is at the same time member of the Islamic Cooperation Organization and Council of Europe. And in both organizations Azerbaijan enjoys very high level of support. It was our initiative for the first time in the world, back in 2008, to organize a meeting between ministers of culture of Islamic Cooperation Organization and the Council of Europe in Baku," Ilham Aliyev said.
Noting that this was the first historic meeting, President Aliyev added that afterwards, the development of cooperation continued between these two organizations, and the broader movement, the "Baku process" was created.
"We are proud of that. We think that our achievement in that area is highly appreciated in the world," said the president.
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