Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Around 36.5 percent of investments made by foreign countries in Azerbaijan's non-oil sector belong to the European Union (EU) countries.

The news was announced by Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev at the second business forum of Eastern Partnership held in Lithuanian capital Vilnius on November 28.

Mustafayev said the most active investors in Azerbaijan among the European countries are Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Italy.

"Investments worth $156 billion were made in Azerbaijan's economy, around half of which fall to foreign investments. Around 65 percent of all the investments have been directed at the non-oil sector. In the past five years, the annual volume of foreign investments in the non-oil sector has exceeded the annual volume of investments in the oil sector by an average of 17 percent. In 2012, foreign investments in the non-oil sector exceeded investments in the oil sector by 25 percent," he said.

The minister went on to say Azerbaijan intends to increase the share of non-oil sector in the gross domestic production (GDP) to 80 percent by 2020.

"Foreign investments, of course, will be used there," he said. "The chemical industry, agriculture, information technologies, and tourism are the priority areas for investments in Azerbaijan."

Mustafayev also said Azerbaijan signed agreements with 20 EU countries on avoidance of double taxation and with 17 EU countries on encouragement and mutual protection of investments.

Work in this area is underway, he said.

"This will allow the EU countries to increase investments in Azerbaijan's economy in the future and expand relations in the non-oil sector," the minister said.

Azerbaijan-EU relations are based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement that was signed in 1996 in Luxembourg and came into force in 1999. In 2009, the EU foreign ministers granted the European Commission a mandate to start negotiations on the conclusion of bilateral association agreements between Azerbaijan, Georgia and, Armenia on one hand and the EU on the other. These agreements will serve as a new practical instrument to replace bilateral action plans.

Azerbaijan is also a part of the EU Eastern Partnership program adopted at the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008. It is aimed at improving the EU's relations with six former Soviet countries -- Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, and Armenia.