Baku, March 26 (AZERTAC). “Our energy diplomacy has been very successful. Looking at the developments unfolding in the world and Europe in relation to energy resources these days, we can see again that it is impossible to separate the energy policy from the overall diplomatic and political context,” said President Ilham Aliyev in his speech in nationwide festivities on the occasion of Novruz holiday. 

The head of state said “Azerbaijan is able to speak its word here too, our position is crucial. Why? Let me go back to the mid-1990s again. At that time, thanks to Heydar Aliyev’s determination and courage, invaluable work was carried out for the future of our country. Despite all the threats, attacks and pressure, and thanks to the determination and courage of Heydar Aliyev, the "Contract of the Century" was signed. From that day on the oil strategy and then the energy diplomacy of Azerbaijan have been fully serving the national interests of our country and people. While our energy initiatives practically never went beyond the regional context in those years, now the position, actions and initiatives of Azerbaijan are introducing major changes to the energy map of the continent.”

President Ilham Aliyev said “today Azerbaijan makes a crucial contribution to the transportation of energy resources of the Caspian basin. Our position, as always, is fair and fully complies with national interests. The energy initiatives Azerbaijan has put forward will, of course, provide the momentum for a further long-term development of our country and, at the same time, will make Azerbaijan an essential partner for friendly countries. I am confident that, as was the case in previous years, all our initiatives will be implemented again and the long-term development strategy of our country will be successfully fulfilled.”

“At the same time, our domestic policy required us to reduce the dependence on the energy factor, because energy resources are exhaustible. We must look to the future. Despite the fact that Azerbaijan’s gas and oil resources will serve our people for decades to come, it is already necessary to lay a solid foundation for the non-oil economy, and this foundation has already been laid. Clear evidence of that is the statistics for the previous year. Last year our non-oil economy grew by almost 10 per cent. We have successfully addressed issues of economic diversification.”