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By Trend

Azerbaijan is currently one of biggest investors in the Turkish economy, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the 7th Summit of the Cooperation Council of the Turkic-Speaking States (Turkic Council) in Baku on Oct. 15.

“Over the past 16 years, Azerbaijan’s economy has more than tripled,” the Azerbaijani president noted. “More than $270 billion has been invested in the country, half of which is foreign. Azerbaijan is a state with a small external debt. Azerbaijan’s external debt accounts for only 17 percent of the gross domestic product. According to this indicator, we are in ninth place in the world.”

“The reforms carried out in the economic sphere are also approved by international organizations,” Ilham Aliyev added. “The World Bank’s Doing Business report ranks Azerbaijan among top 20 most reforming countries. Azerbaijan is currently one of biggest investors in the Turkish economy. Thus, Azerbaijan’s investment in the Turkish economy is $15 billion and Turkey’s investment in the Azerbaijani economy is $12 billion.”

“The transport cooperation among our countries, historically located on the ancient Silk Road, is one of the important directions, of course,” the Azerbaijani president said. “Azerbaijan is an active participant in the East-West transport corridor. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, commissioned in October 2017, is our joint contribution to the restoration of the historic Silk Road. The cargo handling capacity of the Baku International Sea Port is 15 million tons of cargo and 100,000 containers. If necessary, the cargo handling capacity of the port can be increased to 25 million tons and 1 million containers. Azerbaijan as a reliable transit country continues its efforts to facilitate the access of Turkic-speaking countries to world markets. In 2018, 8 million tons of cargo was transported from Turkic-speaking countries through Azerbaijan.”

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