According to the results of the survey jointly conducted by France-based Arab Cultural Heritage Centre and Egypt’s “Nefertiti Media Productions” Company, Azerbaijan’s First Lady, Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO Mehriban Aliyeva was honoured with the title “The most influential woman” of 2014.

The information was provided by the press service of the Embassy of Azerbaijan in France. The survey was carried out from 8 March 2013 to 10 January 2014 among students, journalists and Internet users in France and the Arab world. The survey list included names of heads of states, managers of large companies and charitable organizations.

Mehriban Aliyeva was chosen the winner, taking into account her special merits as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and due to her promotion of culture and international exchange of culture, contribution to development of science, healthcare, sport, education, technology and environment. The result of this survey was a secular confirmation of the power of the Azerbaijani woman taking an active part in public life, worrying about the fate of her people. Instituted on May 10, 2004 under leadership of Mehriban Aliyeva, Heydar Aliyev Foundation demonstrates a purposeful wok towards the promotion of our tangible and intangible heritage of rich universal value, our historical realities. The outcomes of the survey were declared on the basis of creation of International Mugham Centre in Baku, rendering help to children deprived of parental care and other numerous charitable actions held on the initiative of Azerbaijan’s First Lady.  Heydar Aliyev Foundation, led by Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva, enjoys a huge popularity thanks to projects implemented in the country and on the international level. The Foundation was closely involved in the restoration of 2 monuments in Versailles, 5 windows of a cathedral of the 15th century in Strasbourg, creation of Islamic Art Department at the Louvre. The goodwill activity features also reconstruction of the school building in Pakistan damaged by earthquake, restoration of several cultural monuments in Haiti, help to the French Terror Victims Association.     
 
Repair of hundreds of school buildings in regions of the republic by Heydar Aliyev Foundation, construction and equipment of modern ones, special care rendered to ill children prove the philanthropic actions of Mehriban Aliyeva. As an initiator and organizer of numerous international conferences, the First Lady of Azerbaijan contributes to the mutual understanding, peaceful common life and dialogue of different confessions. 

Important projects Heydar Aliyev Foundation accomplishes for development of such spheres as science, healthcare and education is the source of honor to every citizen of the country. A special care Mehriban Aliyeva provides to children and elderly as President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation, numerous schools, healthcare centers, music lyceums and children’s homes built and repaired at her initiative, attention to children suffering from thalassemia and diabetes are highly appreciated not in the country only but in the international arena as well. The results of the survey held by Arab Cultural Heritage Centre confirmed this fact once again.   

Naila Mammadova, 
Activist, "Azerbaijan Realities" group.