Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

President Ilham Aliyev praised Azerbaijan's development at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on October 7 which focused on the results of the country's socio-economic development over nine months of 2013 and outstanding tasks.

The President made an opening speech at the meeting.

President Aliyev said the nine months of the year were successful for Azerbaijan and all the set tasks were fulfilled.

"Azerbaijan's economy has been successfully developing this year too, and, I believe, this rapid development will continue in the years to come because the reforms that we have carried out so far and the results that we have achieved allow us to say that Azerbaijan's successful development will further be ensured," he said.

President Aliyev said Azerbaijan's economy grew 5.5 percent over the nine months of the year.

"I think that taking into account the continuing crisis in the world, it is quite a high achievement, and it allows us to successfully implement our investment programs," he said. "Our non-oil sector is growing at a rapid pace, which has been retained since the beginning of the year. Our non-oil sector grew 10.4 percent in the nine months, and, I believe, it is the best indicator on a global scale."

According to the President, this is the result of the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan.

"We are reducing the dependence of our economy on oil and gas, which contributes to solving the issue of economic diversification," President Aliyev said. "We will completely remove the dependence of the national economy on the oil and gas factor. Development of the non-oil sector is the result of the state policy."

The head of state went on to say that the country's industrial output increased as well.

"Our agricultural production saw a 5 percent growth, and there is a good potential for further development in the future. Inflation was just 2.3 percent, and it is an excellent figure. The population's incomes grew 7.6 percent," he said.

The President said that the macro-economic situation was stable in Azerbaijan and the country was among the top ten countries worldwide in terms of this indicator.

"The Global Competitiveness Report of the Davos World Economic Forum has recently rated Azerbaijan's economy 39th on a global scale. This is an historic figure," he said.

President Aliyev also praised the country's investment climate.

"Azerbaijan is a very attractive country in terms of investment both among the former Soviet republics and in the region," he said. "A total of $17.7 billion was invested in Azerbaijan's economy in nine months, with $10.5 billion coming from domestic and 7.2 billion from foreign sources."

The President said the country's currency reserves have increased this year to make up $49.4 billion.

"It's a very large figure for a country with the population of 9.4 million people," he said. "Azerbaijan is one of the leading countries in the world in terms of per capita currency reserves."

According to him, the growing volume of currency reserves both ensures Azerbaijan's sustainable development and helps the country to raise the relations with foreign partners to a higher level.

The President touched upon the country's state debt, saying it makes up only 7 percent or 8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

"In some developed countries the state debt makes up more than 100 percent or nearly 100 percent," he said. "In Azerbaijan, it is just 7 percent or 8 percent, which means that we have built strong foundations so that Azerbaijan would face no problems in terms of state debt neither today nor in 10 or in 20 years."

The President highlighted the country's social policy, saying it is based on "powerful economic foundations."

"Wages and pensions have increased this year. The wages and pensions have grown several times in the last 10 years. We have remodeled and reconstructed nearly 200 schools this year. All other social facilities are being renewed and modernized," he said.

According to President Aliyev, Azerbaijan has achieved all goals with respect to the development of its regions.

"We are completing the second regional development program this year. Nine months of this year alone saw the creation of nearly 90,000 new jobs. In total, more than 1.2 million jobs have been created in the country in the past 10 years, which helped us to have considerably reduced unemployment. According to the latest figures, the level of unemployment in Azerbaijan is below 5 percent. This also contributes to reducing poverty. We have two months left until the end of the year, but we can already say with confidence that poverty will be under 6 percent this year," he said.

President Aliyev also spoke about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Unfortunately, the past months have marked no progress in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But we have become very powerful," he said. "The difference between Azerbaijan and Armenia is deepening, increasing. Recent events have once again showed that Armenia is not capable of living independently. It is in a dependent position. Even top-ranking Armenian officials have to admit that Armenia is not capable of ensuring its security itself."

Furthermore, the President highlighted Azerbaijan's achievements in foreign policy.

According to him, the number of Azerbaijan's friends is growing.

"The number of countries that want to cooperate with us is growing, Azerbaijan is known as a very reliable partner in the world," he said. "Visits by senior state and government officials of foreign countries who visited Azerbaijan in the last quarter of the year signal our successful foreign policy. The last quarter marked the visit of Italy's Prime Minister to Azerbaijan. Italy is one of the leading countries in Europe. We have excellent relations. It was the first visit of the Italian Prime Minister to Azerbaijan. The results of the visit were very successful. Several days later, the Russian Prime Minister visited Azerbaijan. This visit, too, was a success. It was of profound importance in terms of the development of Russia-Azerbaijan strategic relations. Several days later Azerbaijan hosted the summit of Turkic-speaking states. The presidents of Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan visited Azerbaijan."

President Aliyev further emphasized the achievements in the country's energy policy.

"The Trans Adriatic gas pipeline project has already been launched. I believe Trans Adriatic Pipeline will be an historic project allowing Azerbaijan to transport its natural resources to the world and European markets in the decades to come," he said.

Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev, Chairman of the Board of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan Elman Rustamov and Chairman of the State Social Protection Fund Salim Muslumov made reports on the work done in the nine months of the year.

President Aliyev made closing remarks at the meeting. He stressed the importance of continuing measures to maintain the development dynamics.

The President said that the third State Program on the development of the regions would be adopted next year.

Aliyev emphasized the necessity of further work to step up the fight against corruption, develop electronic services, expand ASAN Service, as well as improve electricity, drinking water and gas supply. He also said measures would be continued to develop agriculture.