Azerbaijan holds 79th place in human development

The UN Development Program (UNDP) launched Azerbaijan Human Development Report 2002 at Grand Hotel Europe of Baku on Wednesday. Chairing the ceremony, the UN resident coordinator in Azerbaijan, the UNDP representative, Marco Borsotti said that Azerbaijan Human Development report has been published annually since 1995. Unlike previous years, the 2002 report has reflected the plight of IDPs’ and refugees’ as well. One can draw a conclusion from the report that economic growth and significant progress in oil and non-oil sectors of Azerbaijan are observed in recent years.

According to Borsotti, the report is aimed at making recommendations on the improvement of human development and living standards in Azerbaijan and launching the nationwide discussions on it.

The Minister of Economic Development, Farhad Aliyev highly appreciated the report, saying that Azerbaijan had made significant progress having risen from the 110th place in 2000 to the 79th place in 2002 in terms of human development. He added that the discussions on the sustainable human development strategy to cover 10 years are underway between the UNDP and the Azerbaijani government.

National coordinator of the report, Urxan Alakbarov indicated that human development index is defined in accordance with three dimensions, including life expectancy, per capita income and literacy rate. Education in Azerbaijan is soon to be adjusted to the international standards.

Chairman of the State Committee on Refugees and IDPs, Ali Hasanov pointed to a drawback in the report, which put the rate of the refugees’ and IDPs’ settlement at 19 per cent.

Attending the ceremony were also representatives of diplomatic corps, international humanitarian and non-governmental organizations.*