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German-Azerbaijani program of professional development yields results [UPDATE]

4 December 2017 13:28 (UTC+04:00)
German-Azerbaijani program of professional development yields results [UPDATE]

By Sara Israfilbayova

To date, 338 entrepreneurs and managers took advantage of the joint German-Azerbaijani program to upgrade the skills of managers.

Deputy Economy Minister Sahib Mammadov made the remarks at a seminar on the role of this program in the development of small and medium-sized businesses on December 4.

He went on to say that the participants of the program showed very successful results, which have a positive impact on the development of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as on the expansion of geography and export volumes of Azerbaijani products.

"Many of the managers and entrepreneurs who took part in this program were able to find new business partners, which led to an increase in exports and the expansion of its geography," Mammadov said.

He said that the research results and statistics show that the private sector as a whole plays a big role in the country's economy.

“Today, the share of the private sector in Azerbaijan's GDP exceeds 80 percent, and its share in employment is 75 percent. The number of registered business entities today exceeded 880,000, all of which are the results of successful economic reforms in the country,” Mammadov said.

Akif Farrukhov, director of the Baku training center, in turn, noted that Azerbaijan entered the top 5 countries taking part in manager training program in terms of participation efficiency.

"Over the years, we have achieved a great, quality development. Earlier we could send only general groups to training, but now we are sending specialized groups. To date, we have already sent four groups specialized in the agrarian, healthcare, energy efficiency and waste utilization sectors," Farrukhov said.

He stressed that despite the fact that Azerbaijan joined the program only in 2009, the country has achieved these successes.

Further he noted that more than 90 percent of the participants in the program were under the age of 40. “In addition, over 20 percent of the participants (68 people) were women. We plan to expand the number of participants in the future, and to this end we are carrying out a number of activities. The latest event was held in Nakhchivan, as a result of which five entrepreneurs from Nakhchivan joined the program,” he said.

Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Germany were established in February 1992.

Germany is among Azerbaijan’s top five most important trading partners. The major portion of trade turnover figures fall to the share of industrial production. German exports to Azerbaijan consist mainly of motor vehicles, iron and steel goods, machinery and production facilities.

More than 100 German companies are operating in Azerbaijan. There is growing interest among Azerbaijani companies seeking opportunities to benefit from doing business with Germany.

In order to expand economic relations, the German Chamber of Commerce (AHK) was officially opened on 12 November 2012. At present, about 130 companies are registered with AHK Baku, representing both sides.

Currently, Azerbaijan is Germany’s chief economic and trade partner in the South Caucasus. According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, trade with Azerbaijan constituted around 80 percent of the total trade volume between Germany and the South Caucasus in 2015.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Germany amounted to $367.70 million in January-June 2017, according to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee.

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