Baku, April 26, AZERTAC 

“I would like to thank everyone here in Baku because it is really great to be in Azerbaijan. For us it`s privilege and honor to be part of the UN Alliance of Civilizations here at the 7th Forum in Baku,” Bill Mc Andrews, Vice President Communications Strategy, Corporate and Market Communications at the BMW Group, has told AZERTAC.

He shared his expectations from the Forum: “Our expectations are that tonight we will give out our award for the intercultural innovation with His Excellency UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser. Other expectations are that we hope this would be a further step in promoting intercultural understanding around the world”.

Mr Andrews highlighted the centennial of the BMW Group: “It is happy that the company is celebrating its hundredth anniversary. The model of our centennial is the next hundred years. So what we are really talking about is where the company is going in the future around the world. One of the important things that will take place in the next hundred years is digitalization. What effects will we have on our business model and where we want to go with that? The other thing is electric mobility. It is important that we continue to invest in electric mobility. But at the same time we believe that most people will still want to drive cars. But we have this strong belief that individual mobility will have a place in our society.”

He hailed the activity of the BMW Group`s partner in Azerbaijan. “Our partner is doing a great job. It is really great to work with such partners around the world and especially here. Over twenty years they have been doing great job here promoting BMW, BMW Motorrad, Rolls-Royce, and Mini.”

Mr Andrews also shared his impressions about Baku: “Yesterday we walked around the city, and I was totally impressed with the heritage, culture and architecture. We were impressed to see all the fine architecture here. It was also very nice how friendly and how open people were to us.” “There were extremely fascinating people, fascinating places. And I will definitely come back again,” he added.