Azerbaijan's president and first lady attended the launch of a new coffee-table book on Azerbaijan yesterday.
The book provides detailed information about Azerbaijan's history, culture, traditions and people, and features more than 1,000 photos.
The foreword was written by Azerbaijan's first lady, Mehriban Aliyeva, who is president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, a UNESCO and ISESCO goodwill ambassador and an MP. The Heydar Aliyev Foundation funded the production of the book.
Addressing the ceremony, President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan was a very beautiful country.
'Today the Azerbaijani people are creating new values, values that for many years, decades, centuries, will ensure the independent development of Azerbaijan,' he said.
'Independent Azerbaijan is our greatest shared achievement. We must protect this achievement, reinforce our independence. We must labour every day to make our independence eternal and irreversible. Azerbaijan is conducting a wholly independent policy today and has fully ensured its economic independence. The Azerbaijani people live freely and peacefully. All freedoms are ensured in Azerbaijan today. Very important steps to build a law-governed state are being taken in Azerbaijan. In a nutshell, our country is developing decisively and comprehensively. This comprehensive development is a reality in today's Azerbaijan.'
The launch was attended by state officials, MPs and members of the public.
An exhibition of photographs from the book was also held.
AzerTAj, 1news.az