WEF shows Azerbaijan is set for cooperation
By Aynur Karimova
The recent World Economic Forum in Davos once more confirmed Azerbaijan's reputation of a reliable partner of Europe, which wants to see Azerbaijan among its friends.
European business circles reiterated their will to cooperate with Azerbaijan, to expand operation in the Azerbaijani market, to implement projects and to make huge investments.
Azerbaijan was presented at the WEF in Davos for the tenth time. The World Economic Forum is a non-governmental organization which holds annual meetings of the world's leaders and managers of the leading business companies to discuss the most challenging issues of the global world.
This year WEF awarded President Ilham Aliyev with a badge of Davos club of honorary members, marking his tenth participation in the forum.
The topic of this year's Davos forum was "The fourth industrial revolution" which was attended by 2,500 delegates from 140 world countries.
Azerbaijan, a small country located in the Caspian Sea shore, remained an attractive partner for many countries thanks to its political stability and strong economic indicators.
President Aliyev attended “The New Energy Equation” session of the World Economic Forum, where he spoke about the problems that drop of crude prices and devaluation of the national currency caused to Azerbaijan.
He said Azerbaijan was preparing itself for the so-called post-oil era in about 20 years from now. "It was a surprise for us, and, at the same time, it was a stress for our economy," he said.
In this situation the country prefers not to fall into panic, but to change tactics promptly. So, it is an appropriate time for Azerbaijan to make reforms.
"We have started fundamental reforms of our financial sector, economic reforms, export-oriented non-oil economy production to forget about the oil factor. As I said before, we were trying to prepare ourselves for this period maybe in 15-20-25 years from now on. But now we have to do it now. And I think that we will cope with this situation," he said.
Azerbaijan is able to manage the crisis, President Aliyev noted.
"Azerbaijan's economy is stable and sustainable and we have large reserves in our sovereign wealth fund, therefore we can compensate this situation," he added.
Azerbaijan is optimistic in the future of the global economy, as the crude market had experienced even the lower oil prices before. "There was a time, I remember, when we launched our major oil development projects in 1994, the price was $12 and it seemed to be very normal. And when we were planning the development, I remember, we thought about optimistic scenario which was $22 so now we are very close to that optimistic scenario of twenty years ago," he recalled.
At a time when economic and financial crisis is shaking the global markets, Azerbaijan is doing its best to protect national economy.
Growth pace of the national economy has tripled in Azerbaijan over the past 10 years, while poverty and unemployment ratios have sharply diminished with measures of both now standing at 5 percent.
The development of the non-oil sector has become one of the main priorities of Azerbaijan. The non-oil sector is considered the driving sector of the country's economic development. Azerbaijan’s economy is already diversified, with the non-oil sector accounting for about 70 percent of the GDP. In 2015, the non-oil industry grew by 8.4 percent and the country is aimed to rapidly develop the non-oil sector in the coming years.
The WEF presents a good opportunity to meet with representatives of various countries, the leadership of major international companies and enterprises, and discuss important issues of mutual interest.
The main topic of discussions of meetings held by President Aliyev in Davos was cooperation, implementation of new projects, further expansion of relations and establishment of new contacts.
Azerbaijan holds a pleasant profile of a reliable partner, enabling it to succeed at a table of talks. The discussions in Davos well mirrored that the county is set for cooperation.
Attracting more investments remains in focus and the country offers the most favorable conditions to foreign investors. Low foreign debt of the country standing at 12 percent of the GDP, and the foreign currency reserves equal to the country's GDP in the overall sum makes Azerbaijan even more attractive in this regard.
The government continues economic reforms, improves the business environment in the country, eliminates unnecessary inspections, renews the licensing situation, and ensures the transparency of the economic and financial sectors.
Attending the Davos forum Azerbaijan reiterated its will to take active part in global processes, to protect its national interests and do whatever is necessary to minimize the role of oil factor in its economy. The present economic and political conditions in the world set new challenges for the development of non-oil sector and export of non-oil products to the world market.
In these circumstances Azerbaijan will redesign its economic development scenario and re-draft its state budget for 2016 to better cope with the global requirements.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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