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President Ilham Aliyev: â€œAzerbaijanâ€™s economy has increased by 2.6 times in the past five yearsâ€

23 February 2009 10:51 (UTC +04:00)

The President said the State Program on Socio-Economic Development of Regions had been implemented successfully. The head of state said the development of non-oil sector was the main target of the past five years and it had been achieved to a certain extent. He said much work had been done to reduce the dependence of Azerbaijanâ€™s economy from oil and gas factor, attention had been paid to the development of the regions and great support given to entrepreneurship. Announcing the statistical figures in connection with the implementation of the State Program, Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijanâ€™s economy had increased by 2.6 times, industrial production by 2.5 times, income per capita made up $5.5 million, 766,000 jobs had been created in the country, 547,000 of them were permanent, poverty level reduced from 49% to 13.2%, budget expenses increased by 12 times and currency reserves exceeded $18 billion.
The President said the program covered all spheres in Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev said Azerbaijanâ€™s technical opportunities had strengthened, great construction projects had been implemented due to the internal opportunities, strong political will was demonstrated to do all this and financial discipline had been created. The President said the financial crisis was lightly felt in Azerbaijan.
Ilham Aliyev said social stratification was going rapidly in the countries rich in oil and gas, there were few jobs, while in Azerbaijan it is quite the contrary. He said Azerbaijan had chosen the right way in using oil resources. Ilham Aliyev noted that funds were invested in the real sector of economy, oil revenues were distributed fairly and transparency was ensured in this field. The president said certain work has been done for the strengthening of transparency. He noted that private sectorâ€™s share in the economy reached 85 % in the past 17 years. Minimum salary was increased for 8.3 times and minimum pension - for 4 times in the past five years, said the head of state and added that 1600 schools, hundreds of medical centers, eight diagnosis centers, more than 10 Olympic centers were built and the cultural centers were restored in the country. President Ilham Aliyev reminded about the promise given fiver years ago to eliminate all tent camps and said that there were no tent camps in the country now. He said four airports were built and put on exploitation, which met the strategic interests of the country.
The president said the tanker fleet of Azerbaijan was supplied maximum and grain production was increased by 300-400 tons in the past period.
The head of state said some countries asked the international organizations for loans and became dependent on them and not able to provide independent policy. Ilham Aliyev said main priority was an energy security in the past five years and nine power stations with total power of 1 000 MVt were built in Azerbaijan in this period. The head of state said two more 600 MVt power stations would be put on operation this year and two more were under construction.
Ilham Aliyev said the gas projects were rapidly carried out in Azerbaijan and 85% of the country was supplied with the natural case currently and this figure was planned to level up 92-93 %. The head of state said eight regions, including Nakhchivan were supplied with the natural gas.
At the end of his speech the president said that the project of socio-economic development of the regions would be carried out in the next fiver years.
Then minister of economic development Shahin Mustafayev delivered a speech.