Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Azerbaijan’s economic growth will be formed through the non-oil sector in the period up to 2020-2030.

Ziyad Samadzade, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship made the remark at the business forum of the Caspian European Club.

He emphasized the necessity to develop the processing industry of the country. Recalling that the government has established infrastructure and a favorable business climate in Azerbaijan, Samadzade urged businesspersons to invest in the regions of the country.

He further stressed that Azerbaijan can produce agricultural products exceeding country’s needs, adding that special attention should be paid to wine-making, as well as tea and cotton growing.

Recently, the state took a number of steps aimed at protecting and promoting local entrepreneurship in a bid to develop the non-oil sector of the economy.

To attract investments, one of the key aspects that can positively affect the country’s economy, the head of the state has signed a decree to encourage investment activities, improve business environment, increase industrial production, as well as create a mechanism and normative legal acts related to encouragement of investments.

The MP also spoke about the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars railway, noting that today Azerbaijan has a great transit potential.

“This is a permanent capital for Azerbaijan,” he said, adding that it would reduce the time and distance for access to Europe.

The BTK railway, being constructed on the basis of a Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement has great importance for the region. Playing a significant role in the revival of the historical Silk Road, the corridor will enable expansion of the relations from Europe to the Anatolia, Central Asia and the Far East.

The peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, this figure will be equal to one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

Azerbaijan’s State Statistics Committee reported that in January 2016, the total volume of foreign investments in the fixed capital of Azerbaijan amounted to $402.6 million, increasing by 48.7 percent compared with the same period last year.

In the specified period, UK, Turkey, Iran, Russia, Sweden and Malaysia invested 84.9 percent ($342 million) in Azerbaijan's economy.

Last year the largest volume of foreign investments into country’s fixed capital amounted to $507 million (per December), while the lowest volume amounted to $248.1 million in February.

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Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova

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