Deputy Minister: 'I hope more Azerbaijanis will participate in state affairs in Ukraine'

At the end of August, at the proposal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 34-year-old Azerbaijani Teymur Tkachenko (Mammadov) was appointed to the post of Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine. He is responsible for the important area related to the organization of shelters. Teymur Tkachenko (Mammadov) is the son of the late Firudin Mammadov, a friend of the first president Leonid Kravchuk, who was repeatedly nominated for awards by the Ukrainian leadership.

Report’s correspondent visited the house of the deputy minister.

“I am Azerbaijani, born in Kyiv. My father recently passed away. He dedicated his life to Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations. I am proud to be the son of Firudin Mammadov. He did everything possible to bring together the Azerbaijani diaspora in Ukraine. I always wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and work in the public sector. I loved watching him solve people's problems,” said Tkachenko (Mammadov).

According to him, for some time he dealt with various issues related to exports and local production in Ukraine: “In 2013, I continued to work at the Ministry of Economy in the field of tenders. I worked at this enterprise until the 2014 revolution in Ukraine. I worked as an assistant adviser to Verkhovna Rada deputy Pavel Ryabikin, who at one time served as Minister of Strategic Industry. Currently, he is the Ambassador of Ukraine to China. In 2014, I was invited to the state administration. After Volodymyr Zelenskyy became president, I was promoted to the position of head of department in the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the Cabinet of Ministers. Later I became the first deputy of the Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko. By his order, I moved to the position of director of the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the city administration. Currently, I am Deputy Minister for Strategic Industries. I am assigned to handle shelters during the war. The tragedy in June highlighted serious problems in this area. During air raids, people could not get into shelters. The problem of shelters in the country has become strategic. And our main task is to prepare shelters throughout the country.”

He noted that he is very grateful to Azerbaijan for the support provided to Ukraine during this difficult period:

“I hope that this war will end as soon as possible with the victory of Ukraine. It’s a pity that I’ve only been to my father’s homeland, Azerbaijan, a few times. My father was from the Shamkir district, and he often talked about Azerbaijan. I really like Azerbaijani cuisine. I have many Azerbaijani friends. I hope that more Azerbaijanis will participate in the state affairs of Ukraine,” said Tkachenko (Mammadov).