Finance

Finance

Day of Azerbaijan held in London

20 November 2013 12:53 (UTC +04:00)

According to press service of the Ministry, the event has been attended by representatives of Ministry of Economy and Industry, British state bodies, EBRD, diplomatic corpus and business structures in London, as well as Azerbaijani businessmen.

Minister of Economy and Industry Shahin Mustafayev said the event aims to give information about Azerbaijan’s present day, its socio-economic development, culture, history and music. Mustafayev noted that Azerbaijan is a stable country, differs with its national, religious and racial tolerance, there are not any political cataclysms in the country, not discrimination is observed against national minorities, foreigners, different confessions and their rights are protected reliably.

He noted that during past 10 years, the GDP rose 3.4 times, per head GDP tripled, state budget incomes increased by 19 times, foreign trade turnover – by 9 times. Poverty level dropped by 8 times to 5.5%. For the present, Azerbaijan’s economy makes 70% of South Caucasian economy. Policy on economic diversification continues and non-oil sector exceeds oil sector. External public debt makes 8.3% of GDP and strategic currency reserves exceed external public debt by 10 times. It’s not surprisingly, Azerbaijan ranked 39^th among the 148 countries in the Global Competitiveness Report 2013 – 2014 of World Economic Forum. Standard&Poor’s, Fitch Rating and Moody’s upgraded Azerbaijan’s sovereign ratings to investment level during the period of the international economic and financial crisis.

The minister said that $ 156 bln has been invested in economy (half as foreign investments) as a result of protection of interest and rights of investors, inviolability of property, creation of equal condition for local and foreign entrepreneurs.

Transnational projects play an important role in European energy safety. Caspian energy resources are transported to regional countries and Europe via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipelines. TANAP and TAP will change Azerbaijan to the biggest has suppliers of Europe.

AZPROMO head Rufat Mammadov made speech about country, Chief of General Prosecutor Office's Department to Combat Corruption Kamran Aliyev – about “development of anti-corruption policy in Azerbaijan”, Executive Director of Azerbaijan Investment Company Rovshan Najaf – about projects implemented by AIC, Director General of Holcim-Azerbaijan OSCJ Rossen Papazov – about the company, General manager of Baku Shpiyard David Loh – about Keppel, member of Board of Directors of CNIM Azerbaijan LLC Stefano Costa – about company, head of the EBRD office in Baku Neil Mckain - about bank’s activity in Azerbaijan.