Azernews.Az

By Rasana Gasimova

Cooperation between the World Tourism Organization and Azerbaijan continues successfully.

Zurab Pololikashvili, the Secretary-General of the Organization said this during the 23rd session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) held in St. Petersburg on September 9-13, during his meeting with Azerbaijan’s permanent representative to the organization, Anar Maharramov.

Secretary-General spoke about the successful completion of the 110th session of the WTO in Baku back in June 2019, saying that he highly appreciates the recent activities related to tourism development in the country. He said he was satisfied with the current level of cooperation between the organization and Azerbaijan and expressed confidence that this cooperation will further develop in the future.

During the session, Azerbaijan was represented by a delegation led by Fuad Nagiyev, the Chairman of the State Tourism Agency.

In his speech, Fuad Nagiyev, said that in recent years the government has been working on extensive infrastructure for the development of tourism in the cities and regions of Azerbaijan. At the same time, the agency conducts extensive marketing activities in foreign countries to attract tourists to Azerbaijan.

Nagiyev added that the government pays special attention to the creation and development of new tourism products in Azerbaijan, as well as the preservation of cultural heritage. The Chairman of the Agency said that special attention is also paid to tourism education in Azerbaijan, adding that efforts have been made to create a new tourism school in the country.

He noted that, unfortunately, the country is unable to use its tourism potential fully because part of Azerbaijan's lands is still occupied by Armenia.

Azerbaijan was elected a full member of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in September 2001. This allowed the country to have the right to vote in the WTO General Assembly, to participate in all the activities of this organization and, by adopting the experience of advanced countries in the field of tourism, integrate into the world family of the tourism community.

The 23rd session of the General Assembly of UNWTO was attended by more than 1,100 people, including 65 ministers and deputy ministers of tourism. The agenda of the session included the role of tourism in education and job creation, the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship in making international tourism sustainable.

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