Over the past 15 years, more than 140 countries have benefited from Azerbaijan’s international aid.
“Elchi” reports that Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeyhun Bayramov stated this during his speech at the conference titled “Promoting Global Solidarity through Humanitarian Support and Development Cooperation,” dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Azerbaijan International Development Agency.
The Minister noted that since the 2000s, Azerbaijan’s rapid economic development under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev has created the necessary economic and institutional foundations for the systematic implementation of an international aid policy, transforming Azerbaijan from an aid-recipient country into a donor country: “Over the past 15 years, more than 140 countries have benefited from Azerbaijan’s international aid. Among them are all 54 African states, 111 out of 121 member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement, 52 out of 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, 43 out of 44 least developed countries, and 28 out of 39 small island developing states,” he said.
According to the Minister, since 2020, approximately 400 million US dollars have been allocated within the framework of bilateral and multilateral aid mechanisms. “Azerbaijan’s activities in this direction have covered various fields. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Azerbaijan provided aid to 88 countries. Our cooperation in Africa has included support for the fight against the Ebola epidemic, as well as an initiative to combat preventable blindness. Within the framework of this initiative, more than 900,000 people have undergone eye examinations, and more than 150,000 cataract surgeries have been performed. Along with this, work has also been done to strengthen the professional capacity of local medical specialists,” the Foreign Minister added.