"Azerbaijan achieved considerable success in fight against poverty and disease" - UPDATE

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov discussed his country's success fighting poverty and disease at the U.N. Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York this week. He stressed that despite the continued occupation of roughly 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia and nearly 1 million refugees and IDPs in the country, the government is doing its best to implement the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Mammadyarov stressed that Azerbaijan has seen unprecedented economic growth - one of the fastest growth rates in the world - over the past five years.

"Revenues from the oil sector have allowed to sponsor the projects necessary to achieve the goals by 2015," he said. "The government's main task is to effectively and transparently use these resources to benefit present and future generations."

The government continues to direct oil revenues to develop the non-oil sector and to push for the more equitable distribution of income growth among the country's regions and various sectors of the population, he said.

Mammadyarov also noted that the government working to improve social and economic welfare, to encourage private sector development and economic empowerment, to improve job quality, and to ensure equal access to social protection.

"We are mainly focusing on reducing unemployment," he said. "The government launched a national program to implement an employment strategy and reduced unemployment from 7.06 percent in 2005 to six percent in 2009."

Mammadyarov added that the country pays significant attention to the rights of children and to promoting their talents - in particular, disabled children and children from poor families.

"The country also implemented significant reforms in education," Mammadyarov said. "The education reform strategy for 2003-2013 mainly focuses on reforming compulsory education."

A national plan on women's issues has also been implemented, he said, noting that the plan has done a great deal in legal terms for gender equality. The plan has created conditions for women to receive secondary and tertiary education, and higher salaries, and also to hold decision-making positions. There are an increasing number of women in parliament and the government, he said.

Mammadyarov also noted that much has been done to develop medicine, as the maternal and infant mortality rates have both dropped in Azerbaijan in recent years.

"Over the past five years, the infant mortality rate has declined by 300%, and the maternal mortality rate has fallen by 200 percent," the FM said. Much has also been done to reduce the prevalence of HIV and AIDS.

Speaking about Azerbaijan's achievements and the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, he said his country attaches special attention to protecting the environment.

"We have started and are performing a series of infrastructural projects that are contributing to the development of neighboring regions," he said.
 
The minister also underscored Azerbaijan's proposal to develop a joint information trans-European line to give regional peoples access to the Internet and telecommunications systems. Concluding his speech, Mammadyarov said that he hopes the decisions adopted by the U.N. will always find a practical solution.


/Trend/