Azernews.Az

BAKU – President Ilham Aliyev has said in Davos that Azerbaijan’s proven gas reserves amount to 2.2 trillion cubic meters and will be enough for over 100 years.

Addressing the Austria-OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) luncheon held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Thursday, President Aliyev said Azerbaijan has a diversified and advanced transportation infrastructure and work is underway to find new energy markets.

"In fact, we know where those markets are. But for projects to be beneficial, we have to put together the interests of producers, transit and consuming countries.

"Naturally, energy resources give us more confidence. They create an opportunity to invest in the non-oil sector, and we are successfully doing that. Diversifying and modernizing the economy is our main goal."

The president noted that Azerbaijan has been posting rampant economic growth.

"The GDP has surged 2.8 times in the past seven years…When the economic crisis emerged in 2009 and oil prices dropped four-fold, our economy grew 9.3 percent, and last year the growth was 5 percent. Currently, the growth is not as considerable as it was in past years, but it’s sustainable. The GDP structure is multi-faceted and is more attractive now."

Aliyev said channeling funds from the energy sector into the non-oil sector has allowed to diversify the country’s economy, leading to a fall in the poverty rate to only 9 percent from 49 percent reported in 2003.

He said that $95 billion has been invested in Azerbaijan in the past 15 years, with about half of the amount being foreign investments.