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Azerbaijani President: We intend to continue to modernize the country and turn Azerbaijan into a developed country

17 May 2011 21:57 (UTC +04:00)

Speaking at the Forum Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed his confidence that the business forum will take place in the mainstream of the relationships that develop between the two countries.

The Head of State noted that the visit of President of the Czech Republic to Azerbaijan has been historic, because it is the first visit by the leader of the Czech state. "We had very fruitful discussions this morning and discussed a very wide range of issues, including cooperation in the economic sphere, the contacts between business structures of our countries. I believe, should give an important signal to business entities to collaborate more closely. The business community is always very sensitive to political nuances, and I must say that political relations between our countries are at a high level", - President Aliyev said.

Azerbaijani President stressed that the two countries have no problems. But there is a mutual desire to develop relations and strengthen cooperation, both bilaterally and within the framework of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European institutions. Therefore, having such a solid political base, the business must also have their say. According to the President some successes already, and that the Czech president is accompanied by a delegation of businessmen - an indicator of mutual interest between our two business groups. "Today, the private sector accounts for more than 80 percent of Azerbaijan’s economy, made drastic economic reforms. Created good conditions for business and we try every year to do additional steps to reduce bureaucratic barriers and impediments to business have been better", - he said.

The President noted that the country has created a favorable investment climate that attracted large investments from around the world. Basically, it’s an investment in developed countries. And basically they are in the early years were invested in oil and gas sector. It was only natural, because Azerbaijan is in the early 1990’s was of interest from an economic point of view only as the possessor of energy. The main objective was to transform this interest in investment in non-oil sector of the economy. For this purpose it was necessary to introduce ourselves as a reliable partner, so that foreign investors know that investment is protected and the state carries out all its obligations. To this end, our main commercial contracts were also discussed in Parliament and passed into law. "I think it’s one of those rare times in history when a commercial agreement, a large investment project takes the form of law. This was done in order to provide a full guarantee for investors that we will never violate their commitments. And we were able to gain confidence, we managed to attract large investments - they are measured in tens of billions of dollars, and thus create a favorable investment climate. For many years, Azerbaijan leads the CIS countries in this indicator, as foreign direct investment per capita, "he said.

Large investments in the energy sector, firstly, allowed to accumulate financial resources. At the same time the country has earned a good reputation in world economic circles. And, third, managed to attract investment in those sectors which are priorities for us, namely, non-oil sector, agriculture, infrastructure, transport and tourism. "And thanks in part to our policy of diversification for our country, a sharp drop in oil prices that we have witnessed a few years ago, has passed virtually unnoticed. Although for a country which has the main revenues from oil sales, falling prices of 4-5 was a great test. But even in 2008, 2009 and 2010, during the global economic crisis, our economy is growing", - he said.

According to him, today laid a solid foundation of diversified economy of Azerbaijan. He noted that the government pays great attention to the development of modern technology. It is very important that products which are produced in our country, in line with international standards and has been export-oriented. Simultaneously, we are implementing a policy of maximum self-sufficiency, including agricultural products as well as food safety issues are important, he said.
Aliyev said that next year the first Azerbaijani telecommunications satellite will be launched into orbit, and Azerbaijan is a country with a space industry. It is also very much embedded in the modern information technology, developing a network of Internet users, according to this indicator Azerbaijan is located in our region in the first place.

A lot of investment can be embedded into the tourism sector and the government intends to use and is already using the country’s geography and natural conditions to attract tourists. This year only in Baku will be open 6 new five-star hotels the world level, and it is also an indication that global brands sees Azerbaijan as a country where one can and should invest, and most importantly, believe in the future of our country. "We support long-term investment, proponents of long-term partnerships and to this end provide the fundamental and very important economic reforms", - he said.
Of course, without political reforms, economic reforms can give effect only in the short term. Therefore, the state of political reform is a very consistent policy. He noted that Azerbaijan has established very good relations with the European institutions, for 10 years are members of the Council of Europe, working with the European Union on the Eastern Partnership. We intend to continue to modernize the country and turn Azerbaijan into a developed nation. To this end, the President believes there are all possibilities. Firstly, public policies, programs, government support of private business, entrepreneurship, and the emerging educated youth have a strong middle class, as well as natural resources and financial independence, which is also important.
"In the first phase of development of our oil projects, I remember in the foreign press was very much discussion about what the economy of Azerbaijan will be developed unilaterally, that we will have Dutch disease - the Dutch disease - in the economy and oil revenues will not bring the desired result. But our policy and the proper use of energy resources have led to the fact that today no one is talking about Dutch disease, and today they say nothing about the economic development of our country, "he said.

The President emphasized that over the past seven years, gross domestic product in Azerbaijan grew almost three times that. Industry has grown, too, almost three-fold. Poverty rate has fallen by five times. And this is an indicator of how a market economy and social issues are solved, how would complement each other. We have carried out major infrastructure projects - communication, transportation. We have carried out major projects OIL & GAS, and today the Azeri oil, including, comes on the market of the Czech Republic, which I am sure, too, contributes to the diversification of supply and economic development", - he noted.

The Head of State said the government now is developing one of the largest gas fields in the world - Shah Deniz, which has reserves of more than one trillion cubic meters. In general, the proven gas reserves in Azerbaijan are 2.2 trillion cubic meters. However, I am sure that these stocks will rise, because we are still in the stage of exploration of new fields and gas potential of Azerbaijan will play an important role in ensuring energy security in our partner countries, he said.
President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan has today diversified ways of delivering energy to world markets. There are three oil and four gas pipeline, which transport Azeri energy in all directions - and to the north and west, and south. Thus, we feel fairly confident in the fact that it is not dependent on one supply route. Thus, diversification is provided in full. And we understand consumers who also seek to diversify sources of energy supply. Therefore, coordination between producers and consumers, the balance of interests and diversification, and free competition are those to which we aspire", - he said.

The President noted that in our country will continue to implement all necessary reforms. We are implementing a major program of regional development, and developing not only Baku, and, above all, our regions. Over the past seven-odd years through a program of regional development in Azerbaijan was created more than 900,000 new jobs, and the vast majority of these jobs in the regions.
The country has established the Azerbaijan Investment Company - are co-investing in projects that are important to our economy. "And I want to take this opportunity to invite businessmen from the Czech Republic to be our partners, to participate in projects as investors or contractors and I am sure there are all possibilities. Would also like to take this opportunity to thank your country’s banks for financing important infrastructure projects implemented in our country, and I hope that this cooperation will continue to successfully continueâ€, - he said.

Azerbaijani President once again greeted the guests and expressed his hope that the visit and business forum will have good results.

At the end of the forum the Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Vaclav Klaus in the Maritime National Park, admire the panorama of Baku. Czech president has been informed in detail about improvement and creative work carried out in the capital, is rapidly developing in recent years in Azerbaijan.

The business forum, held under the Ministry of Economic Development, the organizational support of export promotion and investment in Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) and the Czech embassy in our country, along with officials from both countries, attended by over 200 businessmen working in the field of agriculture, food industry, finance, oil and gas, healthcare, construction, information and communication technology, energy, engineering and other fields. On the third edition business forum included presentations on business and investment opportunities in Azerbaijan. The business forum was organized bilateral meetings between businessmen and discussed prospects for expanding cooperation.