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achieved? Nothing. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Abkhazia and Georgia 
have suffered a lot. Fortunately, there is a close friendship between the peoples 
and between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Georgia. Eduard Shevardnadze and I 
have been close friends for a long time. When I was the leader of Azerbaijan, he 
headed Georgia. We also worked in Moscow together. Later we returned to our 
countries and became presidents. We have a lot of problems. But the friendship 
between us and between our peoples helps us solve many complicated problems. 
We have implemented into life big projects. Seven years have passed since we 
signed a historical contract with 11 foreign oil companies on joint developments 
in the oil deposits of Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli in the Azerbaijani Sector of the 
Caspian Sea. We chose Georgia to export our oil, constructed the Baku-Supsa oil 
pipeline and put it into operation in 1999. We have been engaged in the realization 
of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline for a few years. The project is ready. Soon 
its construction will start. Azerbaijan also has gas. After the Contract of the Century 
we signed many other contracts. A very big gas deposit has been discovered. We 
need to export this gas to the world markets, so we have chosen the route through 
Georgia once more. Probably we shall sign a contract with Georgia soon. Turkey 
and Azerbaijan have already signed such a contract. We shall start the construction 
of a gas pipeline. It is designated for the next generations of Azerbaijan and Georgia. 
We open new opportunities. The pipelines laid through Georgia will strengthen the 
friendship between Georgia and Azerbaijan. 
Our neighboring regions also live very friendly. I meet President Shevardnadze 
very often. Perhaps we shall meet this month. I am happy to see the representatives 
of the Georgian women. They belong to the young generation. It is good. We should 
continue our work. So we have to prepare the next generation for this. It is pleasant 
to see you here.
Does the Azerbaijani delegation want to say anything?
Zahra Guliyeva (chairman of the State Committee on Women`s Problems):
Distinguished President! We were happy when GUUAM was established by four 
countries in 1997. Uzbekistan joined it in 1999. The population of the countries of 
GUUAM is over 90 million. Half of this fi gure is women. It means that woman is a 
great power. We want and help our presidents reach the future targets.
We thank you for the support of our idea on the establishment of the women`s 
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forum of GUUAM. Our republic had relevant conditions for establishing this forum. 
It took place in the Gulustan Palace. You sent a telegram of congratulation to our 
forum. Mr. President, it attached great importance to the forum. We thank you for 
that telegram. We, the female participants of the forum, remember the platform 
of the 4
th
 World Women`s Conference, our targets and that we were raised during 
the Soviet time. We have always had friendly relations. The signifi cance of the 
First Women`s Conference of GUUAM is to strengthen the friendship between our 
nations and to pass it to the next generations. 
We thank you for your support. Nowadays gender problems, equal rights between 
men and women are attached great attention. We have had such equal rights since 
1918. You implemented the gender program into life when you headed our republic 
the your fi rst period of your rule. 
The gender problem was being solved in Azerbaijan in 1969, while it was not 
even discussed in the world. The women were promoted to high positions for the 
fi rst time in the history of Azerbaijan. We still feel your attention to the problems 
of the women. The decree issued by you on March 6, 2000, on the role of women 
in policy making was adopted as an offi cial document of the UN and sent to many 
countries.
We are proud that our president pays attention to the problems of the women. We, 
all the women of Azerbaijan, feel this attention. We are proud of our president. We 
want to help our president to maintain the independence of our country. 
We are happy for the establishment of GUUAM and the organization of the fi rst 
forum of the women in Azerbaijan. Along the delegations of Ukraine and Georgia, 
experts from Moldova and Uzbekistan took part at the forum. They participated 
in the ceremony when we signed the Baku Memorandum. They assured us that 
they would deliver their women all the documents adopted here. The forum was a 
success. Very good conditions were created for every delegation. Almost everyone 
from the Ukrainian delegation made a speech in the forum. So did the Georgian 
delegation and our representatives. Over 100 people took part at the forum. Along 
the offi cial delegations, female members of the parliament, representatives of NGOs, 
scientists, famous fi gures took part in it. The second half of the meeting was held 
in fi ve sections. The work in the sections was very interesting. Everyone was very 
active in the work of sections. 
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Some issues, including legislation, activity of women NGOs, gender problems 
were discussed. We raised serious problems, such as how to help the women suffering 
from the war, protection of the rights of the refugee women and children living in 
tents. We plan to visit a refugee camp tomorrow. There are a lot of refugee camps 
in different places of our republic. But we have chosen a closer place, which is 
Sabirabad. I want our guests to see in what conditions our refugees live. As you said, 
it may be possible to live in those conditions for a few months, but not for years. It is 
too hard. It will be also hard for their rehabilitation. We think that if we have solidarity 
with the women of GUUAM countries, they will support us, protect the rights of the 
women and children, struggle for peace together with us. We, women, mothers, no 
matter in which country we live, always wish our children and the next generations 
peace and stability. Thus, such solidarity is very important for us. We thank you for 
establishing this solidarity. You always support us. We shall carry out our tasks. You 
mentioned the oil contracts. Today is the seventh anniversary of the fi rst oil contract. 
We are aware how hard it was for our president to achieve the signature of this oil 
contract. Some believed in it, while some did not. Some external and internal forces 
wanted to obstacle its signature. However, the contract was signed. I congratulate 
you on the seventh anniversary of the contract. We adore you. We want to work like 
you, but it is too hard for us. Your working style motivates all the Azerbaijani people 
to support you. On behalf of all the participants we want to present you the folder of 
documents and the carpet with the logo of the forum. 
Heydar Aliyev: Zahra khanum, thank you. You told about the forum in detail like 
our friends. When you raised this initiative, I found it very useful. It is pleasant for 
me to feel that this work is useful not only for the women, but for all the people. It 
is good that you are going to visit the refugees who have been living in tents for 8-9 
years. The conditions in Sabirabad are very bad. But there is a worse place, which 
is Bilasuvar. You will see it yourselves. It is too hard to imagine how people live in 
those conditions, they survive how in tents every season. You will see how many 
people live in a small tent. It makes hard impressions. I visit the refugee camps 
frequently. I think how patient they are. When you are there, nobody will complain 
about the conditions. When I visit them, I hear that some people complain, but in 
general, they express their trust in me that their problems will be solved soon. 
The cities and districts where hundreds of thousands of people used to live have 
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