It's a great honor to be the host country for WUF13, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Euronews on May 18, SİA informs.
"182 countries have gathered here. And this is a good demonstration of respect for Azerbaijan. And as far as I know, the number of participants is at a record high. So this really is a demonstration that the topic is important and the host country also is a country which has a lot of international connections," the Azerbaijani leader stressed.
"And of course, for us, it's also an opportunity to report to the audience and to the international community about what has been done so far, what our plans are, and also to learn from our partners. Because the level of participation and the number of heads of state and government demonstrate that today urban planning is really something that many leaders think about. And as I said in my remarks, harmony between the preservation of historical heritage and architectural heritage and the need to modernize the cities should go hand in hand," Ilham Aliyev added.