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Azerbaijan targets to cut poverty level to zero in five years

09 December 2009 09:41 (UTC +04:00)

London. Vugar Mustafayev - APA-ECONOMICS. Adam Smith Conferences with support from Azerbaijanâ€™s embassy in the UK is holding the 1st International Azerbaijan Investment Summit in London from December 8th -9th 2009

In the second half of the first day of the summit, Adil Mammadov? the Acting President of Azerbaijan Exports and Investment Promotion Fund (Azpromo) briefed the participants about his countryâ€™s investment environment and favorable conditions for promising projects.

According to him, the recent economic policy has led to steadily growing household incomes and as a result, poverty has declined over the past 5 years from 45% in 2003 to 13% in 2008.

In his words, Azerbaijan plans to reduce the level of poverty to zero in the next 5 years.

He also said that the number of Internet users and the number of cars per capita are growing apace in Azerbaijan as a sign of improving social welfare.

â€œWithin the past 5 years the number of cars per 1000 people increased from 62 to 99",â€ he added

Israfil Mammadov Investment Director of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan, talked about oil and gas and infrastructure projects initiated and implemented in the region by Azerbaijan and the accumulation of billions of petrodollars in the Oil Fund and efficient spending on earmarked projects.

Sahir Mammadkhanov, Deputy Minister of Taxes, said that the tax burden decreases in Azerbaijan year by year. Thus, the income tax was reduced from 27% in 2003 to 22% in 2009, and 20% tax rate will be effective from 2010.
According to him, the state tax policy prioritizes the protection of foreign investment and avoidance of double taxation.
â€œTo this end, Azerbaijan signed agreements on avoidance of double taxation with 39 countries and 32 of them are in force now. In addition, information system has been automated, the registration process has been maximally simplified and electronic tax invoices will be introduced from 2010,â€ he added.

Emil Mustafayev, First deputy chairman of International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), recalled that IBA is a leading bank in the country and the entire region.
According to him, amid the global crisis the bank managed to raise more than $1 billion from abroad and fulfill the foreign obligations in the same amount over the past 2 years.

Francis Delaey, head of the EBRDâ€™s office in Baku, and Aliya Azimova, IFC Country Officer for Azerbaijan, spoke about the activities, the prospects of cooperation, and financing of investment projects in Azerbaijan.

Orxan Buday, Azercell Telecomâ€™s senior representative on the technical issues, spoke about the companyâ€™s technological innovations, such as 3G and LTI.
According to him, with a market share of 70%, coverage of 80% of the territory and 99.7% of the population of Azerbaijan, Azercell is technically and fully ready to introduce 3G in the country.

Tale Heydarov, President of the Azerbaijan-European Society (TEAS), said in his speech that they are willing to provide all possible support for the attraction of European investors to the Azerbaijani market and their finding partners.

"Azerbaijan is a favourable and promising region for investment. Despite the fact that Azerbaijanâ€™s economy is mainly based on oil and gas sector, there is great potential for cooperation and capital investment in construction, agriculture, and tourism sectors.

Representatives of Azerbaijan Investment Company, AFBBank, AZEL, AzMeCo, AtaHolding and other companies also delivered reports at the conference.

â€¢ INAGURAL SESSION â€œBusiness and Politics in Azerbaijanâ€ - Government and Industry Keynotes:
This session will feature presentation from key political, economic and business figures who will discuss the regionâ€™s economic and political transformation and examine how policymakers and the CEOs of leading companies are adapting to the current economic environment

*CORPORATE ROADSHOW DAY (Thursday, 10th December 2009): This day of the Summit has been designed as a multi corporate roadshow, where we will be bringing the major and up and coming corporates from Azerbaijan to London and giving them a unique chance to present their companies to analysts, private equity and venture capital investors, investment bankers, ratings agencies and financial consultants

* PANEL DISCUSSION: â€œWhat Makes Azerbaijan Appealing to Investors?â€
This panel, featuring equity and debt investors, key financial advisors and industrial leaders will analyse which of the sectors of Azerbaijan economy hold the biggest investment potential and discuss what should be done to improve the current climate for foreign investment

*CASE STUDY SESSION â€œBuilding on Investment Opportunities in Azerbaijan â€“ Success Stories of International Cooperation and Investments in the Regionâ€
This session will provide a detailed study of international companiesâ€™ experience in Azerbaijan, as well as examine successful strategies for entering the Azerbaijan market and analyse the significance of intangible investments in the region

* EXTENDED SESSION ON BUSINESS INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN HIGH GROWH SECTORS OF AZERBAIJAN ECONOMY: This session will evaluate business potential of such segments of Azerbaijanâ€™s economy as: Agriculture and Food Processing, Telecoms and IT, Tourism and Travel, Construction and Real Estate, Power Generation and Transport Infrastructure
* IN-DEPTH PARALLEL SESSIONS ON OIL&GAS AND FINANCE SECTORS:
Two streams will be run in parallel to allow smaller focus groups to carry out in-depth analysis on prospects for the development of oil and gas and financial sectors.

As APA is an official Media Partner for the conference.