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Event on 20th anniversary of Azerbaijanâ€™s independence organized by Ministry of Economic Development

24 September 2011 14:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. The event dedicated to the 20th anniversary of restoration of Azerbaijanâ€™s independence was organized by Azerbaijani Ministry of Economic Development.

APA reports in his speech, Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev spoke about the development of Azerbaijanâ€™s economy over the last 20 years. He said that this history is divided into 3 parts. Thus, 1991-1994 years are assessed as decadence period. Gross Domestic Product declined by 13-20%, incomes have fallen by 3.6 times. The following period covers the period of 1995-2003, characterized as a period of stability. Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Baku-Supsa, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline projects were realized in these years. During this period, Azerbaijan began to cooperate closely with international financial institutions. GDP grew by 9%, wages increased on average by 5.6 times, inflation has fallen sharply.
According to Mustafayev, the accelerated development observed in the country’s economy from 2003 to the present day. Over the past 7 years, 40% or 2200 schools were rebuilt. All schools of Azerbaijan will meet international standards in the next 2 years. International agencies increase rating of our country from year to year. GDP growth amounted to 14%. Foreign exchange reserves totaled $ 40 billion. The Minister said that investment in Azerbaijan’s economy exceeded $ 100 billion. Currently 75% of the economy of the South Caucasus fall on Azerbaijan. More than 900 thousand jobs were established in Azerbaijan from 2003 to present day, 655 thousand of them are permanent.

In his speech, First Vice-President of SOCAR Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh noted that in 1901 Azerbaijan produced 11 million tons, accounting for 50% of world oil production. According to him, if in 1997 Azerbaijan was producing a total of 9 million tons of oil, now oil production is 50 million tons. It was also noted that in 2010 it produced 26 billion cubic meters of gas. From the beginning of the development block offshore "Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli" (ACG) in Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, it was produced 248 million tons of oil.
Yusifzade also noted that the project "Shah Deniz" has turned Azerbaijan into an oil exporting country: "The gas reserves are $ 1.2 trillion cbm. At present, 5 wells per day produce 25 million cubic meters gas. Taking into account the newly discovered "Umid" and "Absheron" fields, the general gas reserves of the country reached to 2.55 trillion cubic meters