The Eurovision will allow Azerbaijan to become closer and more understandable to ordinary European citizens, who today have the wrong idea about this country, thinks Matthew Bryza, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan. He said thousands of Europeans arrived this week in Azerbaijan to watch Eurovision song contest. He noted those who know Azerbaijan mainly from elegant commercials on CNN will see in the capital, Baku, a developing city graced with a stunning promenade along a turquoise sea. 
According to him, for today most of the Europeans know about Azerbaijan only from the reports and articles by the Western media. As a person who served a one-year term as US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, I know that they often do not reflect the reality, he said.
Bryza underlined that "Azerbaijan's record on economic reform has been significantly better than is portrayed in the Western media. Economic reformers have followed prudent fiscal and monetary policies".
He said: "Azerbaijan's society, government reformers invested much of the country's energy revenue in an anti-poverty program that helped reduce the poverty rate from 49 percent to 9.1 percent from 2003 to 2009 (16 percent, according to the World Bank)".

AzerTAc