"I am proud that I was nominated by my country as a candidate for the post of Director-General of UNESCO and I am grateful to the government and personally to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for the high trust and support rendered to me. In the time that remained until the election, we conducted an intensive pre-election campaign, unprecedented in terms of tightness. I am grateful to all those who helped me in this difficult work.
Many visits were made to the member countries of the UNESCO Executive Committee, dozens of meetings, speeches and presentations were held, articles were published in international publications that covered the positions of the candidate of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the agenda of UNESCO and on matters of vital importance for the future activities of the Organization that were met with great attention and support.
It was support, expressed during the election campaign by many members of the UNESCO Executive Committee, that gave us reason to expect success.
However, in the course of the highly competitive struggle for the 30 votes necessary for the victory, in which, in addition to Azerbaijan, there were such big states as China, France, Egypt, only 8 states, including 2 permanent members of the UN Security Council, we unfortunately did not succeed election campaign and get the right number of votes.
Therefore, I regretfully decided to withdraw from the election race, but I do it with a sense of duty, as I did everything possible and necessary, depending on me.
UNESCO, being the main humanitarian organization of the whole world, plays an important role in the development of education, science, culture and communications in all countries of all continents.
The very fact of nominating the leader of this authoritative international organization is already a great achievement in the life of any person. One can be proud of the fact that in post-Soviet history I am the first creative person to be nominated and selected for this high position.
I think that this event is a great school for young Azerbaijan Diplomacy.
I would like to once again sincerely express my sincere gratitude to all those who supported me on this difficult road. "
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