Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan is one of the few countries that have managed to attain economic development through their natural resources, head of the Azerbaijani state oil fund SOFAZ, Shahmar Movsumov, said last Friday.

Azerbaijan has proven natural gas reserves of about 2.55 trillion cubic meters, while proven oil reserves are estimated at 2 billion tons.

The resource-rich South Caucasus republic transports natural gas to Turkey, Georgia, Russia, and offers to export it to Europe.

Azerbaijan is an important current and future supplier of both oil and gas. The country's largest hydrocarbon deposits are located in the Caspian Sea, particularly, the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of oil and gas fields and Shah Deniz gas field.

Movsumov said that there are many countries in the world that have oil and gas reserves and other natural resources, but most of them have huge problems with development.

"There are only a few countries in the world that can boast that they have achieved rapid and accelerated development in the shortest time possible while using their resources," Movsumov said, adding that Azerbaijan is one of those countries.

Movsumov noted that all possibilities are being used to turn Azerbaijan into one of the most successful countries and a leader in the region within a very short period of time.

SOFAZ, a sovereign wealth fund, was established in December 1999 by a presidential decree. Its primary objectives are to help maintain macroeconomic stability in the country and to generate wealth for present and future generations.

The main purposes of the fund are the accumulation of funds and placement of assets abroad to minimize the negative impact on the economy, preventing the so-called Dutch disease to ensure savings for future generations and to maintain the current social and economic standards in the country.

The assets of SOFAZ as of January 1, 2013 had grown by 14.5 percent compared to early 2012 and stood at over $34.1 billion.