Ilham Aliyev: More than 100 parks, gardens created in Baku over past 20 years

More than 100 parks and gardens have been created in Baku over the past 20 years, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the official opening ceremony of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

"In the last 20 years, we created 100 parks, squares, and gardens in Baku, and 19 of them have been totally renovated. Environmentally friendly cities with quick access to public transportation, micromobility, underground systems, and modern buses that generate their power from electricity are all being developed within a comprehensive concept for the capital, and not only the capital," Ilham Aliyev said.

The Azerbaijani leader noted that in many parts of Azerbaijan, urban development is progressing very rapidly:

"Definitely this important gathering and the expertise of our friends from the United Nations and numerous guests who visit us will help all of us to learn more, to learn from each other, to learn from positive experiences, and also to talk about our mistakes."

President Aliyev noted that the Azerbaijani government had to do a lot of environmental work in Baku.

"Baku was the first city in the world where oil was produced back in 1846. And throughout these 180 years, almost all these years, there was zero respect for environmental protection. So Baku was heavily polluted, and if I name some parts of Baku like Black City, Bibiheybat, Boyukshor, maybe for foreigners it doesn't mean anything, but if you have time to visit these places and to have some video footage or pictures of how they looked, say 20 years ago, and how they look now, you will see what has been done in order to create environmentally friendly spaces in Baku," the Azerbaijani leader said.

"Instead of Black City, which was heavily polluted-that is why it was called Black City-today we have White City, the model of urban development. It's a city inside the city. Another demonstration of urban development is the resort city of Sea Breeze, and I highly recommend our visitors go there, especially those who like to swim in cold water. I know some of them are in this hall, and I recommend they go there just to see another example of modern urban development."