Baku, Azerbaijan – The Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have started a joint 2-week course titled "key issues of the world economy for countries with transition economies". In his opening speech, the rector of the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Hafiz Pashayev, touched upon vital issues related to developments facing Azerbaijan. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke about the strong performance of the country’s economy: “It is worth underlining the serious efforts taken by the government of Azerbaijan to reduce poverty in the country. More than 700 000 new jobs have been created and special development programs have been successfully applied regarding socio-economic development of regions in Azerbaijan. As a result, Azerbaijan has become the locomotive of whole Caucasus region.

Talking about the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy, Ambassador Pashayev said that it is a relatively new school which has embraced contemporary and state-of-the-art knowledge about international relations and diplomacy. He noted that the number of students at the school will increase substantially, taking into account that the number of Azerbaijani embassies abroad more than doubled during last 5 years. Ambassador Pashayev also reminded the audience that ADA’s new campus will be powered largely by clean energy and is a part of the government’s broader policy toward investing in renewable energy.

The Secretary General of UNCTAD, Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi welcomed the participants emphasizing the importance of emerging and developing countries like Azerbaijan in overcoming the difficulties of the most recent world economic crisis. He noticed Azerbaijan’s strong economic records during the turbulences of the world economy: “Azerbaijan has generally avoided steep exchange-rate depreciations, systemic banking crises and rapidly rising rates of inflation that were among the key characteristics of previous crises in emerging markets”.

The UNCTAD Secretary General praised Azerbaijan government policy toward investing in infrastructure, health care and medicine, and education. Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi noted Azerbaijan’s role in bringing prosperity to the Caucasus and called country’s economy a “stability factor” for a whole region. 

The conference is attended by representatives of over 10 countries and will last until August 6.