Network
Membership of ELSA Azerbaijan
Extending the ELSA Vision to Azerbaijan A group of law students from various universiElshan Bayramov Khanlar Agalarov ties in Azerbaijan President Vice President for ELSA Azerbaijan Academic Activities were inspired and ELSA Azerbaijan extremely thrilled about ELSA’s opportunities. Taking into account that there was no existing ELSA group in our country, we decided to take the initiative to establish a successful ELSA group in Azerbaijan. After a fruitful meeting on 31st of June 2010 where the most active law students from different law faculties gathered, we decided to apply for Observership of the largest student organisation acting in the field of law – the European Law Students’ Association! Our first National Council Meeting was highly welcomed by the Azerbaijani Law Community and several high ranked state officials and law professors attended the meeting. We also had international guests including the President of ELSA International for the term of 2010/2011, Óscar Lema Bouza, the President of ELSA Germany 2010/2011, Philip Hagedorn, and a trainer from the International Trainers’ Pool, Rudolf Cristoph Reiet. Representatives of the media prepared a detailed reporting on several television channels. This played a crucial role in popularisation of ELSA’s Vision among the members of Azerbaijani Law Society. Promotion of ELSA through the first NCM of ELSA Azerbaijan played the greatest role in attracting attention of all law society to our Association. During our second NCM, we decided to present our Membership application to the International Council Meeting and during ICM Palermo in the fall 2011 the Council approved it. Nowadays we are planning a lot of projects in the scope of the International Focus Programme of ELSA, on Health Law. In the main role is our National Moot Court Competition which has already began among the law faculties of Azerbaijan. ELSA Azerbaijan decided to organise a Moot Court Competition as a pilot in our native language in order to pro-
SYNERGY magazine
vide better introduction, acquaintance and preparation for the law students of Azerbaijan to the ELSA Moot Court Competition on WTO Law on international level. All in all, ELSA Azerbaijan has attended four international meetings so far: ICMs in Alanya, Poznan and Palermo and an IPM in Tbilisi. During these events we have established strong relations with the other members of the ELSA family. We have made a lot of friends, and these friendships last still today and contribute to our integration to ELSA. As the representatives of ELSA Azerbaijan we believe that, we should contribute to this Network by holding seminars and conferences, various competitions, and acting in the field of STEP. The ICM in Alanya in the autumn 2010 was where ELSA Azerbaijan got its Observership status. Thus the greatest moment of the ICM was when ELSA Azerbaijan became officially part of the ELSA Network by the majority of votes. We were happy and motivated to contribute to this Network, and this success was the success of all Azerbaijani law students. One of the greatest moments in the history of ELSA Azerbaijan, without a doubt was the ICM in Palermo in fall 2011. The President of ELSA Azerbaijan, Elshan Bayramov, Head of the Delegation, Khanlar Agalarov, Vice President for STEP, Aynur Hajiyeva, and Vice President for Seminars and Conferences, Melekhanım Rahimova, participated in this unbelievable event. At this event the Network believed in us and in our future together. It gave us a new enthusiasm for our work in ELSA Azerbaijan and was an additional incentive for working harder and harder. We believe that law students will gain academic quality of foreign legal systems and business practices through the wide range of activities and international cooperation of ELSA. Global challenging, good administration, management and teamwork skills, practical business experience and sharing European values will be the new opportunities for Azerbaijan law students through ELSA.
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