As reported earlier, on 23 September President Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva viewed the landscaping work carried out in Balakhani settlement of Baku.

AZERTAC presents some excerpts from President Ilham Aliyev's conversation with the residents of Balakhani settlement:

“This is the first stage of our work. But there is still much to be done and we will do everything gradually. I want to say again that the main goal in Balakhani, an ancient settlement of our country, is for people to live comfortably, better, provide them with jobs, have a good ecological situation, clean air and clean water. Of course, the discovery and restoration of historical sites is one of the goals. Some of the historical sites shown to me today were underground, including a sand bath, other sites – the sites built in the 14th century, in Soviet times. They are also our national treasure. These sites show again that this settlement has an ancient history and ancient culture, because only people with advanced culture could have constructed such buildings.”

“Of course, there are opinions about the future development of the settlement. People from Baku and other cities come here, relax, walk and take pictures. According to the information available to me, information about Balakhani is published in foreign media, and there is great interest in Europe and Russia. Of course, the influx of tourists will become greater. This will create new opportunities for residents of the settlement. It would be good if residents of the settlement were active in issues related to tourism and use these opportunities, be able to provide tourism services to visitors.”

“Local residents of cities, small settlements and historical places in many developed countries join the tourism business, earn money, provide information about their history and culture and, at the same time, create wonderful conditions for tourists. Therefore, it will depend on the people themselves. The state will also provide the necessary support. The catering facilities, cafes, teahouses, other facilities that can attract tourists should be created with good taste, so that life here is active, people live better and visitors from abroad can see this beauty.”

“I have said this before and you know very well that Balakhani has a great history. But this history was somewhat left on the sidelines. Because the poor environmental situation, the dilapidated roads and other problems did not allow even the citizens of Azerbaijan to have full information about Balakhani. Now Balakhani has found a place in the world media, and this is only a beginning. This is why Mehriban khanim and I are here today. I said that I would come and visit to get acquainted with the work done. Most of the work has already been done, and the work to be done will give a greater impetus to the development of Balakhani.”