Azernews.Az

German economics minister Michael Glos said in his remarks at the seventh business forum that his country was interested in cooperating with Azerbaijan, which boasts the world's fastest-growing economy and rampant development in the oil and gas sector.
Glos said Germany considered the resource-rich South Caucasus republic that is closely involved in international projects as an investor. He said German entrepreneurs were interested in joining numerous projects in the energy, construction and healthcare sectors to be implemented in Azerbaijan. Germany could also take part in projects on agriculture, waste processing and improving living standards of the population.
"Germany is keen on cooperating with countries possessing raw materials and meeting the demands of present day. Despite existing close economic cooperation between our countries, I believe that more potential is still there," the minister said.
He added that Germany backed Azerbaijan's future admission to the World Trade Organization.
Azerbaijani Minister of Economic Development Heydar Babayev speaking afterwards briefed the participants on economic figures. He said his country topped the Commonwealth of Independent States for the volume of investment per capita. $42 billion has been invested in the national economy in 1995-2007, with funds of foreign countries accounting to 70% of the volume.
Azerbaijan currently maintains economic ties with 140 countries. The Azeri-German trade turnover in the first half of 2007 grew 37% compared to the same period of last year. According to the European Union's statistics, bilateral trade amounted to 1.1 billion euros in 2006.
The minister said that along with the mentioned fields, Azerbaijan intended to collaborate with Germany in the education sector.
"The advanced technical universities in this country could [help to] nurture staff for Azerbaijan," he added.
Glos was accompanied on his visit by an 80-member delegation comprising German government officials and heads of influential companies.