President urges attraction of local, foreign investments in regions [UPDATE]

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

President Ilham Aliyev has urged the attraction of local and foreign investments in Azerbaijan's regions for their faster development, Azertag reported on September 14.

He made the remarks at a video-format meeting with the newly-appointed executive heads of Shamkir and Jalilabad regions, Rashad Tagiyev and Rafig Jalilov.

“You should try to attract investment to the regions - both local and foreign. Our country cannot develop as much as we want without private investment. The state alone cannot take on everything. All this construction and improvement work throughout the country has been done through public investment,” the president said.

He emphasized the need to create conditions for entrepreneurs, stating that the latter should be given opportunities to invest in regions and to create jobs.

Moreover, Aliyev stressed that the necessary steps will be taken for the development of each region.

Furthermore, the president underlined that there is a huge potential for industry, agriculture and tourism in both regions.

“This potential needs to be used effectively. Notice that the state has done everything, has built beautiful roads, has laid gas lines, power lines, water lines, has installed irrigation systems, has created reservoirs, has built hospitals, schools, sports facilities. The rest is up to local leaders,” Aliyev stated.

Giving the instructions to the newly-appointed executive heads, the president stated that a civil servant should be an example.

“I think that everyone already understands that a civil servant should be an example. People’s livelihoods and comfort depend on the activities of civil servants. They must work in such a way that they are always with the people,” the president noted.

Aliyev underlined the need to work on the ground so that the regions develop faster.

“You must work in such a way that people are satisfied with you, things in your region are going well, there is development, construction and landscaping,” Aliyev stressed.

Additionally, the president noted that great work had been done for the socio-economic development of Jalilabad and Shamkir regions. As part of the public investment programs, major infrastructure projects have either already been implemented or are nearing completion.

Large-scale landscaping work had been carried out in both regions, electricity supply had been completely renewed. The level of gas supply in Jalilabad is more than 90 percent and in Shamkir is close to 100 percent.

He stressed that great work had been done on irrigation, and many artesian wells had been drilled. A large reservoir was built in Shamkir region - the Shamkirchay reservoir, which ushered new opportunities for land reclamation measures in both Shamkir and neighboring regions, and significantly expanded the scale of irrigated land.

The president noted that about 120 schools had been built or renovated in both regions. Two large hospitals were built, for 190 and 145 patients. In addition, a Medical Diagnostic Center was built in Jalilabad and two large Olympic Sports Complexes were commissioned.