March 18 – Minister of Internal Affairs of the Azerbaijan Republic Colonel-General Ramil Usubov met the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Austria Axel Wech.

Having welcomed the guest, the Minister congratulated the ambassador on his appointment and expressed hope for his future contribution to expansion of Azerbaijani-Austrian relations.

The Minister gave detailed information on challenging public and political situation created in the country during the first years of its independence, return of National Leader Heydar Aliyev to supreme power on the insistence of the Azerbaijani people, drastic socio-economic and legal and democratic reforms carried out under his leadership, resolute efforts to combat crime, restoration of stability, taking criminal situation under control as well as key rights and duties of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Having noted that democratization and reforms also touched on the MIA, Colonel-General Ramil Usubov mentioned the integration of our country into Europe, adoption of new laws based on democratic principles, regulating police activity and highlighting human rights and freedoms and a major role of experts of international organization from a number of developed countries including Austria in this work, as well as the great importance attached to these laws enforcement.

Touching upon the Azerbaijan-Austria relations, Mr.Usubov said there were close relations between the Ministries of Internal Affairs of the two countries that are regulated on appropriate legal documents. The Minister stressed that the Austrian MIA was the first agency among police entities of European countries which established bilateral relations with the corresponding ministry of our country and noted that two important instruments signed in the sphere of training and skill improvement and bilateral visits promoted further development of this cooperation, having highlighted that about 700 employees of the MIA took part in scientific and practical conferences, workshops and training held in Austria over the last three years.

 

The Minister appreciated the visits of police representatives from Vienna to Azerbaijan on the occasion of the Eurovision song contest and now in advance of the First European Games and sharing experience in the field of maintenance of public security during major events.

 

Touching upon problems, the Minister stated that combating international terrorism being one of the main kinds of transnational organized crime, illicit trafficking in drugs, trafficking in human beings and irregular migration are always a prime focus and emphasized the importance of integrating efforts in effective prevention of such facts of global threat.