POLITICS
TO PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE CONGRESS OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES MR. HALVDAN SKARD
We congratulate you on your election as President of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, and wish you every success in your important work.
Bodies of local self government were created in Azerbaijan as a result of the first municipal elections in 1999. It was part of the process of building a legal, democratic and secular state in our country, and represented a qualitatively new stage in development of civil society.
Taking into account the requirements of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, recommendations of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and conviction of the popularly elected municipal bodies, participants of the organizational meeting have recognized it as expedient to create national associations of city, town and village municipalities independent of each other. The work to prepare organizational meetings of the associations-to-be is underway.
We, participants of the organizational meeting of heads of municipalities representing all cities and regions, highly value and express our gratitude for the support of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in creation of national associations of municipalities in Azerbaijan.
We are confident that the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities will continue its close cooperation with bodies of local self government functioning in Azerbaijan.
