Baku, Azerbaijan, July 5
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
Azerbaijan’s economy showed its resistance to external shocks, said the country’s Deputy Economy Minister Sevinj Hasanova July 5.
She made the remarks during the public discussions on “Industrialization and innovative development” in Baku.
The deputy minister noted that the decrease in oil prices and instability of the world economy affected Azerbaijan’s economy.
“In order to eliminate their negative impact and to ensure even more sustainable resistance, the government has mobilized all the efforts and has accelerated the implementation of the measures envisaged in the ‘Azerbaijan 2020: vision for the future’ concept,” said Hasanova.
“Serious steps have been taken in this sphere. The conditions for starting a business have been improved in the country,” she said. “The inspections of business entities have been suspended for two years [except for the inspections related to state security].”
Moreover, the number of licenses and permissions for doing business has also decreased, she added.
Many issues, including social problems have been resolved in Azerbaijan in recent years by using oil revenues, said the deputy minister.
“The poverty rate has been reduced and the population’s living conditions have been improved,” said Hasanova. “Large-scale work has been carried out in recent years under the leadership of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev for developing the infrastructure.”
“Of course, we understand that it is not right to rely on oil revenues all the time. ‘Azerbaijan 2020: vision for the future’ concept was adopted in 2012 for reducing the dependence on oil,” she said. “The development of the non-oil sector is highlighted as a priority is this concept.”
One of the main elements of the concept is the continuous improvement of the population’s quality of life, said Hasanova.