Message from Ambassador Taghizade on the occasion of 28 May – Republic Day of Azerbaijan
Establishment of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic - the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim East on 28 May, 1918 was a landmark historic event in Azerbaijan’s history. Committing to principles of democracy and secularity, ADR granted women the right to vote before most western democracies.
Although ADR fell in April 1920 to foreign invasion it laid the foundations of Azerbaijani statehood and in 1991, the restored independent Azerbaijani state recommitted itself to the traditions of the First Republic.
Today Azerbaijan is a dynamic, modern country, actively contributing to the maintenance of international peace and security and promoting tolerance and multiculturalism in domestic and international levels.
British military presence in the region has become a solid guarantee of peace at the time when the ADR came into existence. Besides, the UK was among the countries that recognized the ADR’s independence and their representative office opened in Baku after ADR gained international recognition at the Paris Peace Conference.
Building on that heritage, today the Republic of Azerbaijan and the UK enjoy constantly developing bilateral relations and mutually beneficial strategic cooperation in a number of areas, including political, economic, energy, trade and investment fields.
Azerbaijan and UK are reliable partners for each other and exceptionally close links between our countries are hailed at all levels by the officials of the two sides. The visit of H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the UK on April 26, 2018 at the invitation Ms. Theresa May, the then Prime Minister of UK contributed to ever-increasing bilateral relations. Our relationship is continually evolving and the two countries anticipate more intensive and increasing cooperation in the coming years.
We are especially thankful to the UK for its continuous support to sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Azerbaijan, while underlining the importance of universally recognized norms and principles of international law.
This year Azerbaijan celebrates its National Day at a time when the world is fighting novel Coronavirus pandemic. It is never enough to reiterate that we are all in this together. Projecting the Union Jack onto the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku on April 12, 2020 Azerbaijan demonstrated solidarity with the UK in its fight with coronavirus.
As in all countries around the world, Azerbaijani government has been taking unprecedented and commendable measures to contain the spread of the virus such as restructuring its healthcare system in the shortest possible time, promoting global solidarity and in spite of the sharp decrease in global oil prices, mitigating negative socio-economic impacts of pandemic by allocating AZN 3 billion so far towards this end.
Holding the first-ever virtual summit of Non-Alignment Movement on 4 May, 2020 upon the initiative of President Aliyev to discuss an effective global response to COVID-19, Azerbaijan also allocated USD 10 million to the WHO especially with the objective to help needy population in Africa, Asia and Latin America amid pandemic.
In the post-pandemic period, Embassy of Azerbaijan is looking forward to work with the counterparts in the UK on all counts to contribute to the further expansion and diversification of mutual strategic cooperation.
