A special meeting “New Leaders for tomorrow” took place here Saturday as part of the Crans Montana Forum. The event was attended by First Lady of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva and Vice-President of the Foundation Leyla Aliyeva.  

The session moderated by Prof. Daniel Warner saw presentations on “which role for the future leaders in a changing world?” and “the impact of globalization on the world environment.”

Speaking at the session, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva said, “Today`s environmental problems separate nations and do not allow them ensuring their interests. Therefore, the right management of natural resources of every country is a very important issue. This is a very important issue in terms of climate change. These problems can have both negative and positive impact on our life.”

She noted environmental changes make the role of the young generation more important.

She said Azerbaijan has embarked on good environment protection programs and campaigns.

“Regional and international contacts are pivotal to ensure cooperation all around the world and putting in place measures in this direction,” she said.

The Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation underlined Azerbaijan has nine out of 11 climatic zones.

“This makes the Azerbaijani nature very rich. We are facing very important goals related to safeguarding the rich nature of Azerbaijan,” Aliyeva pointed.

Leyla Aliyeva found the need to teach these questions in the school so that children could get information about environment.

She said countries should use environmentally-friendly technologies and save energy resources.

“Solution of these problems depends on our lifestyle. We must be responsible for our actions using all possibilities,” Aliyeva said.

According to Leyla Aliyeva, years-long offshore and onshore oil production led to heavy pollution in Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. Solution of these problems is one of the major challenges for the independent Azerbaijan.

“For the country, which regained its independence, solution of these issues was complicated by occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia. It caused great difficulties in the South Caucasus region too. As you know, these lands are home to rich ecosystem, flora and fauna,” she said. 

Aliyeva also pointed out that Azerbaijan designated 2010 as the Year of Ecology during which hundreds of thousand trees were planted.

Speaking at the event, Elnur Aslanov, Head of Depart at the Office of the President said youth play in important role in the socio-political life in Azerbaijan. He mentioned the Azerbaijani youth study abroad program, which will see 15 thousand youngsters studying in foreign countries. He pointed out the stage was set in Azerbaijan for young people to freely use modern technologies.

Aslanov underlined that Azerbaijani youth is the force elevating the country`s political and economic potential to a new level and that is why, youth is the priority of public policy in Azerbaijan.

When asked about IDEA environmental campaign`s projects, Leyla Aliyeva pointed out that this organization is the region`s biggest environmental organization. She pointed out the main aim of the campaign is to attract youth.