Baku. Victoria Dementieva – APA. Azerbaijan is trying to contribute to Europe more than it gets from Europe “because we see Europe as one family and we would like to be an active contributor to Europe as well,” Ali Hasanov, head of political and public affairs department at the Presidential Administration in Azerbaijan told New Europe in Baku on 4 April, APA reports.
“Economy is one of the major parts of this contribution and we are actively investing in European states,” he said, following an event by the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and The Business Year magazine, which highlighted Azerbaijan’s economic development. The magazine gave Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev a “Man of the Year” award based on an opinion poll conducted among partners and readers of the magazine that includes international government officials and business executives.
Hasanov told New Europe that in the past his country was seeking investment from Europe. “But now we are investing back to Europe and we are seeing a growing role of Azerbaijan in the participation of European energy supply,” he said.
In his speech earlier, Hasanov said that in the past 10 years Azerbaijan’s GDP increased five times while investment increased 10 times. “Azerbaijan has become one of the most stable developing countries,” he said. Despite the economic crisis that lasted three years, Azerbaijan has managed to grow and has made its economy attractive, he added.
He noted that his country plays a key role in energy and non-energy sectors, especially in ICT development. This year, Azerbaijan will launch its first satellite.
Moreover, Azerbaijan plans an active role in the international arena and has wrapped up its chairmanship of the UN Security Council.
On that note, Hasanov told New Europe on the sidelines of the presentation that in the last few months Azerbaijan has been trying to involve influential European institutions towards solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “There are three most influential European institutions: EU, NATO and the OSCE. And, of course, we should mention the Council of Europe because we are actively partnering with the Council of Europe. But one of the most influential European institutions in terms of regional security is NATO. Regarding economic relations of European continent, we foster relations with the EU,” Hasanov said.
“Unfortunately those two organizations are not actively dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh issues. They indirectly make statements, recognizing territorial integrity and calling both parties to come to a peaceful settlement. But we believe that the capacity that these two institutions have in ensuring regional security is much more and they should use it,” he added.
The Azeri administration official urged the EU and NATO to take more influential steps towards resolving the frozen conflict. “I think they can call on Armenia to fulfill the international obligations towards establishment of peace in this region. This will, of course, result in securing peace in the region and this will definitely influence more secure supply of energy resources to the EU - because peace is necessary not only to South Caucasus but also to the European continent,” he said.
Europe has economic, energy and security interests in this region so raising these issues frequently will likely attract influential EU institutions to this important subject, he said.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev said in his speech on 4 April that Azerbaijan's economy makes up 75% of South Caucasus.
Moreover, Azerbaijan has seen significant growth in the country’s non-oil sector.
Driving in the outskirts of Baku in the direction of the Sangachal Terminal slum houses adorn the hills in contrast to the growing modern metropolis that spreads along the coast ahead.
But Mustafayev noted in his speech that poverty was reduced to 6% and further steps will be taken it to eliminate it altogether.
President Aliyev’s priority is the development of non-oil sectors of the economy, he said. The last three years the economy grew 2.5 times. In 2012, the growth of the economy was due to the non-oil sector, he said. “We hope that by 2020, the Azerbaijani economy’s non-oil sector will be 80%,” Mustafayev said, adding that the target is to promote investment in the non-oil sector and for that reason Baku has partnered with international institutions, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Mustafayev also said that Azerbaijan has increased the amounts of special-privilege loans for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and lessened bureaucracy hurdles for these enterprises. He noted that there are more than 80,000 entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan. Recently, a new law was submitted to the Azeri parliament on entrepreneurs and “we hope it will be adopted soon”.
Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economic Development said that the share of private sectors’ contribution to the economy is 70%. “After 2008, the share of local investment surpassed foreign investment,” he said. More than 50% is directed to the non-oil sector.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Industry and Energy Natiq Aliyev recalled how difficult it was to convince foreign companies to invest in Azerbaijan in the mid-90s to early 2000s. Now Azerbaijan is becoming and an important investor not only locally but also abroad, he said in his speech. As an example, he noted that the key shareholder of the TANAP or Trans Anatolian Pipeline is the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), which owns 80% of the project.
There is plenty of oil and gas in Azerbaijan. This is clear from the moment the plane makes its final approach to Baku and one can see the oil rigs spread along the Caspian.
But, in keeping up with the times, Azerbaijan is exploring issues of energy efficiency and plans to increase the use of sustainable energy. Azerbaijan never depended on renewables before. Only 14% was produced by hydro-electric stations and 11% was renewables. That is why it never used wind or solar energy. Azerbaijan wants to increase its share of renewable energy, including geothermal in the north, which Aliyev called a first step, “but a very important one”.
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