First of all, Aghayev spoke about the history of independence of Azerbaijan and establishment of the first secular republic in the Muslim world. Aghayev said that Azerbaijan went down in history as a country that gave women the right to vote even earlier than the United States.
The Consul General said that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan restored its independence and added that after returning to power in 1993, the national leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev took important and serious steps to strengthen the independent statehood. Aghayev noted that important reforms have been carried out in various sectors of the economy.
Aghayev informed the participants about the economic reforms undertaken in the country and current efforts by the Government under President Ilham Aliyev’s visionary leadership to diversify the economic development even more vigorously into such areas as tourism, IT, agriculture and transportation, among others, which are already beginning to produce positive results, strengthening Azerbaijan's position as the largest economy in the South Caucasus region.
Highlighting Azerbaijan's role in implementing projects of regional and transregional importance and magnitude, the Consul General spoke of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad that was inaugurated on October 30, 2017 and that is set to connect China with Europe through the shortest and most reliable route. The Consul General also spoke about the North-South transport corridor and noted that as a result of these projects Azerbaijan will become one of the most important transport hubs in the world.
The Consul General also informed the audience about the illegal military occupation and total ethnic cleansing of around 20 percent of Azerbaijan's sovereign territory by neighboring Armenia. He noted that this illegal occupation and the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan has only damaged Armenia's well-being over the last 27 years of its independence, making it the weakest economy of the South Caucasus.
"Since 1991, Armenia has lost a million of its population to economic emigration," Aghayev said, adding that integration of Armenia into the large-scale regional projects involving Azerbaijan and the other South Caucasian nation - Georgia - would only be possible once Armenia leaves the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, allowing hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijani displaced population to return to their homes and lands.
After the presentation, the Consul General responded to questions from the audience.
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