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Baku hosts international conference â€™Middle class in Azerbaijan: social, economic, political dynamics and prospectsâ€™ - PHOTOSESSION

Baku hosts international conference â€™Middle class in Azerbaijan: social, economic, political dynamics and prospectsâ€™ - <font color=red>PHOTOSESSION</font>

24 October 2012 10:03 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. Today, Baku hosted international conference â€™Middle class in Azerbaijan: social, economic, political dynamics and prospectsâ€™ by joint organization of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan and World Bank.

Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies under the Azerbaijani President Farhad Mammadov said that the state program on socio-economic development of the countryâ€™s regions for 10 years, rather than five is expected to be adopted in February next year. Mammadov said that the emerging middle class will play a special role in achieving the goal of doubling GDP over the next 10 years.

â€œOil strategy, which has been successfully implemented for the past 20 years, forms the basis of economic development in the country. However, the countryâ€™s economy will be diversified in the future. From this point of view the role of the middle class is importantâ€.
Chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic policy Ziyad Samadzade said that it is necessary to think about changing the legislation and the Tax Code to accelerate the formation of a middle class in Azerbaijan.
â€œA new economic system has been rapidly formed in Azerbaijan,â€ he said. â€œThe fact that the middle class has not been formed in the country is not the fault of the system. This has happened nowhere in the world for 20 years. These processes take timeâ€.
Head of the Department for Entrepreneurship Development Policy at the Economic Development Ministry Zaur Gasimov spoke about countryâ€™s economic development: â€œAzerbaijan is conducting comprehensive measures to develop entrepreneurship. Around 284 enterprises have been built in the country for nine months. Around 444 more are being built. While supporting small and medium entrepreneurship, we will speed up the formation of the middle class which is a very large consumer, investor and taxpayer groupâ€.

World Bankâ€™s senior economist for Azerbaijan, Rashmi Shankar appreciated reduction of poverty in Azerbaijan and noted that after sometime, the amount of per head income will reach $20,000 in the country: â€œAzerbaijan must widen middle class and in future middle class will be able to contribute to development of the countryâ€.