President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on Monday chaired a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socioeconomic development in the first half of 2015 and objectives for the future, informs the official website of the Azerbaijan President.

In an opening speech, the head of state said “the results of the first half of 2015 are very positive, Azerbaijan is developing successfully.”  “Today, negative developments can be seen in various parts of the world, the bloodshed in the Middle East continues, Europe is experiencing a deep economic and moral crisis, and all this makes us think. Azerbaijan builds equal relations will all countries and international organizations, and it remains committed to this principle. 

The head of state went on to say that over the last six months, in Azerbaijan the economy grew by 5.7 percent, non-oil sector by 9.2 percent, industrial production by almost 4 percent, non-oil by over 1 percent and agriculture by 7.3 percent.

 Inflation in Azerbaijan made 3.5 percent, and money income of the population totaled 6.2 percent, the president said, adding 12.7 billion manat was invested in the country in the first half of 2015.

Speaking about the crisis set in Europe, Middle East and CIS space, President noted that Armenia is in deep political, moral, psychological and financial crisis: "There are no resources for the development of the country. The economy collapsed, the industry collapsed, people are leaving the country and the country has no human resources. If it goes further, in the future, perhaps, a country like Armenia will disappear from the world map. If this happens, the only culprit is current criminal dictatorial regime. "

President Ilham Aliyev touched upon the issue of Azerbaijan’s integration into European structures, as well as the format of cooperation.

“Azerbaijan creates equal relations with all countries, all international organizations and we continue our activities in accordance with this principle,” Ilham Aliyev said, adding that Azerbaijan takes its national interests as basis in cooperation with the European Union.

… Today, a dirty campaign is being carried out against Azerbaijan, the president said, adding that some disingenuous politicians from the Western countries, congressmen, senators and Islamophobic politicians backed and funded by Armenians have declared a war against Azerbaijan.

“Today, unfortunately, fascisms, religious discrimination, Islamophobia, xenophobia and anti-Semitism prevail across Europe. In other words, it is not only against Muslims. Of course, there are some forces that envy the development of the Muslim country, they are united. In addition, the protectors of the remains of the “fifth column” also launched an attack on Azerbaijan,” President Aliyev noted.

President Aliyev went on to add that information war against Azerbaijan reached the most severe stage on the eve of the first European Games. “However, the Azerbaijani people and state won this information war. This campaign and final stage of this campaign once again showed that no outside force can affect our will.

President Aliyev also said Azerbaijan has no problems with the European countries in a bilateral format. “In most cases, I express my concerns during the meetings with the leaders of the leading European countries. They told us to turn a blind eye. Indeed, we take no notice. If we did, we would have done what they say. No one here will obey them. Those resolutions are just pieces of paper for us. Therefore, no one will ever implement them. Let the Azerbaijani people and the ones who drew up those ugly resolutions know it. No one can dictate Azerbaijan. One can be a friend and partner to Azerbaijan, and we are ready for this. We will go on in this direction in the future.”