2019’s major events for Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Rasana Gasimova

2019 was marked with numerous important events in Azerbaijan, as the South Caucasus country held a number of large scale international events and carried out successful economic reforms. Here are the most prominent events that 2019 will be remembered for.

Meeting of the OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee

As an OPEC member-country, Azerbaijani hosted the 27th meeting of the joint OPEC Monitoring Committee technical committee in its capital on March 17, and the 13th Ministerial Meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC member countries on March 18.

The meetings reviewed the oil-producing countries’ commitment to the agreement on reducing the oil output and its impacts on the oil market.

New social security project

This year, Azerbaijan started implementing a new project aiming to render social services (employment, social security, targeted social assistance, pensions, social insurance and other services) through simplified procedures.

The first Center for Sustainable and Operational Social Security (DOST center) opened in Baku in May. Their number of these centers is expected to be increased to 31 in Baku and regions by 2025.  

Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee

Baku hosted the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee from June 30 to July 10, 2019. During the Baku session, 45 significant decisions were made and 29 heritage sites were inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List.

Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement

On October 25-26, Azerbaijan hosted the 18th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, which is the second political platform after the UN, uniting in its ranks the biggest number of countries.

This year, Azerbaijan took over the chairmanship of the organization from Venezuela. The summit brought together the heads of state and government of about 60 countries, as well as the heads of international organizations. The country will chair the movement structure in 2019-2022.

100th anniversary of Baku State University

In November, the country marked the 100th anniversary since the establishment of the country’s oldest university - Baku State University. President Ilham Aliyev gave a speech during the event to mark the university’s anniversary.

The university was established in1919 during the period of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The University started its first educational year with two faculties – faculty of philology and medical faculty with 1094 students. Today, Baku State University offers students 16 majors with 55 bachelor and 153 master degrees.

Summit of World Religious Leaders

The 2nd Baku Summit of World Religious Leaders was held in Baku on November 14-15.

The summit brought together leaders and representatives of more than 70 countries from five continents and 25 traditional religions and religious movements.

Country started transporting gas to Europe

The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which is a major part of the Southern Gas Corridor, connected the giant Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe.

The opening ceremony of the Phase 1 of the TANAP was held in Ipsala, Turkey’s Edirne province on November 30, 2019 near the Greek border where TANAP is connected to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), through which natural gas from Azerbaijan will be delivered to European countries in early 2020.

UEFA Europa League Final

Azerbaijan hosted some of the major sports events this year. The final match of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, 2019 UEFA Europa League Final, was played at the Olympic Stadium in Baku on May 29.

The match played between English sides Chelsea and Arsenal, making the final a London derby.

In addition, the capital hosted the Baku 2019 Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) on July 21-27. The festival was attended by 3,900 athletes from 48 European countries. Athletes competed for 135 sets of medals. A total of 930 medals were awarded to the winners, including 300 gold, 300 silver and 330 bronze medals.

Azerbaijani chess player Teymur Radjabov became the first owner of the World Chess Cup in the history of Azerbaijan. On October 4, Radjabov defeated his Chinese opponent Ding Liren 6:4 in the finals of the tournament held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

This year, National Gymnastics Arena hosted eight international competitions.

First Homemade shipping vessels were launched  

On December 13, the Baku Shipyard introduced the first oil tanker and ferry of local production that will be used on the Caspian Sea.

The first oil tanker “Lachin” was built by local specialists on the design of the Odessa Bureau of Marine Engineering. It will provide transportation of oil and oil products in the Caspian and liquid cargo to other basins through the Volga-Don and Volga-Baltic canals.

General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries

On December 18, Azerbaijan hosted the 9th General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries (TURKPA).

The agenda of the Assembly included reports and recommendatory decisions of the meetings of the TURKPA standing committees, adoption of model laws, reports of the observation mission for the early presidential elections in Kazakhstan, as well as the adoption of legal documents of the organization. As part of the event, Azerbaijan assumed the chairmanship of the Council of TURKPA from Turkey.