Located at the junction of civilizations, Azerbaijan has a rich cultural and spiritual heritage and traditions of tolerance, which is one of the recognized truths in the international arena. The existing environment of national-cultural diversity and religious-ethnic tolerance has turned it, as a multinational and multi-confessional land, into a unique space of intercultural dialogue on a global scale. The government policy successfully pursued today in the Republic of Azerbaijan, aimed at preserving this cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity dictates the need to enrich the wide historical experience accumulated over the centuries in the field of multiculturalism and to surround it with special care, strengthen the propagation of unique achievements gained in society in this direction in the international arena.

Considering the importance of wider popularization of Azerbaijan where multiculturalism has become a way of life, as a model of tolerance in the world, as well as the significance of analysing and encouraging the philosophical, social, political and other aspects inherent in various multicultural models in individual countries in Azerbaijani realities, guided by paragraph 32 of the article 109 of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, I hereby resolve:

1. The Baku International Multiculturalism Centre to be created.

2. The “Charter of the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre” to be approved.

3. The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan:

3.1. within three months, to prepare and submit to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan suggestions for bringing the acts of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in line with this Decree;

3.2. within three months, to ensure and inform the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan about bringing the regulatory legal acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Republic in line with this Decree;

3.3. to exercise control over bringing the regulatory legal acts of central executive authorities in line with this Decree and inform the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan about the execution within three months;

3.4. within two months, to approve and inform the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan about the cost estimate and the payroll schedule, the personnel ceiling, the monthly official salaries of the executive director and employees of the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre;

3.5. within two months, to prepare and submit to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan suggestions on the construction of building for the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre;

3.6. to address the required issues of financial support and procurement related to the organization of the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre’s activity;

3.7. to address other issues arising from this Decree.

4. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan to ensure the state registration of the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre within a month.

Ilham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, May 15, 2014