Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Attracting investments is in the focus of the Azerbaijani government, Economic Development Ministry official Natig Hasanov said at the opening of the annual international conference "Investment Climate Development between the Silk Road Countries and Europe" in Baku on June 5.

The two-day conference brought together more than 250 delegates -- both professionals from Europe and senior managers from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia.

Hasanov said that $144.4 billion has been invested in the Azerbaijani economy since 1995.

"Though the Azerbaijan Republic is a young state, during the years of independence the country has covered a long path of economic development," he said.

According to Hasanov, the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan in recent years are aimed at improving the investment climate and legislative framework in this sector.

"Significant amounts of investments (37 percent) have been drawn to the oil sector. Azerbaijan was the first country to declare the Caspian Sea open to foreign investments. Major projects like the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and others are implemented in the country jointly with leading international partners," he noted.

Hasanov said the next stage of the country's development is redirecting the economy from the oil to the non-oil sector.

"The volume of investments in the non-oil sector has been increasing in recent years. All the above mentioned created grounds for steadfast and sustainable economic development. Over the past ten years, the GDP has grown 3.5 times and industrial production by 2.8 times. Azerbaijan is ahead of the CIS countries in terms of the development rate, and the country has turned into a key economic center of the South Caucasus. Moreover, Azerbaijan has begun to invest in foreign countries, including Turkey, Georgia and Romania," he said.

The main topics of the conference include tax planning and investments in the countries of the region. The event is attended by leading experts and representatives of major accounting, consulting and financial service companies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, UAE, Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.