ID :
430453
Sat, 12/31/2016 - 08:38
Auther :

Moderation Key To Azerbaijan's Success

By Nor Faridah Abd Rashid BAKU, Dec 31 (Bernama) -- The concept of moderation has obviously done much good for Azerbaijan, a multi-cultural and multi-faith Central Asian country that has developed into a modern and self-sufficient nation with a strong and diversified economy. Azerbaijan's charismatic President Ilham Aliyev has always emphasised moderation as a way to unite the Azerbaijanis and bring success to the Islamic country of some 9.6 million people. The President is very focused on making Azerbaijan, which gained independence from the Soviet Union 25 years ago, stronger politically, economically and socially. And he has succeeded, as the resource-rich economy of Azerbaijan grew more than three times over the last three years. According to Malaysian envoy Datuk Roslan Abdul Rahman, “interestingly this (concept of moderation) has worked quite well; there is not much religious tension here." All faiths are protected by the state, the Malaysian Ambassador to Azerbaijan told Bernama on the sidelines of the News Agencies World Congress (NAWC) held here recently. To emphasise his point, Roslan said that an Armenian church here was also protected by the state although, technically, Azerbaijan and Armenia were still at war. "So, you can see this kind of development here,” said Roslan, who was appointed as Malaysia's first ambassador to Azerbaijan when the Malaysian embassy was officially opened on Sept 12, 2014, by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who was on a two-day official visit then. Roslan recalled President Aliyev's speech opening the NAWC, pointing out that the latter had emphasised Azerbaijan’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, with the people of different ethnic groups and religions living in peace and dignity. The ambassador said the president’s message was: “At the end of the day, you are living in the same place and the same country and you are trying to develop this country and that Azerbaijan could be a model to many societies trying to grapple with this issue and trying to move on.” However, Roslan said, Azerbaijan was still looking at Malaysia and Indonesia in moving forward to become a role model for a multi-racial and multi-faith society. On bilateral relations, investments and trade, the ambassador said Malaysia’s national oil company Petronas had done well and invested some US$3 billion in oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan since 2014. As for people-to-people contact, an important aspect of bilateral ties, not many Malaysians have been coming to Azerbaijan, also known as 'The Land of Fire', with its centuries-old culture and history and where the people’s lifestyle presents a unique and harmonious combination of the traditions and ceremonies of different cultures and civilisations. “We have economic interest here. We will expand the political, economic (aspects) and later on the social and cultural as well as people-to-people contact," the envoy said, adding that not many Malaysians have visited Azerbaijan. He said, however, that the Azerbaijan government’s decision to open up its visa regime early this year, with a visa-on-arrival facility for Malaysians, has been helpful for those wanting to come to Azerbaijan. "We are also trying to entice, maybe, AirAsia to come over to Baku. It is already flying to Tehran, which is quite close. We are sounding out to AirAsia to fly here," he said. There might be a need for further discussions with AirAsia on this and, once this takes place, there would be more people-to-people contact, he said. Roslan also said that he hoped Aliyev would visit Malaysia. Najib, during his visit here, invited Aliyev to visit Malaysia, he said. "We are waiting for the right time for the president to come to Malaysia," he added. -- BERNAMA

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