BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 2. Investments in the Azerbaijani economy have quadrupled over the past 20 years, Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Head of the Department for Economic Affairs and Innovative Development Policy Shahmar Movsumov said at an international conference titled "Shaping geopolitics of Greater Eurasia: from past to present and future" conference, hosted at ADA University, Trend reports.
"Initially, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan had $270 million, and now - $50 billion, which is a great success," Movsumov said.
He noted that Azerbaijan's GDP has grown 3.6 times over the past 20 years, and investments in the economy have quadrupled over this period.
Movsumov also said that attracting foreign investments into Azerbaijan’s energy sector was part of the national oil strategy of great leader Heydar Aliyev.
"When the great leader Heydar Aliyev returned to the leadership of Azerbaijan, there was a very difficult economic and political situation in the country, from which it was necessary to find a way out. The decision was to create a national oil strategy," he said.
According to him, the national oil strategy was based on three main principles. Firstly, it was necessary to attract foreign investment in the development of the oil industry in Azerbaijan according to this strategy. Then, to make sure that the oil and gas produced in Azerbaijan could enter the foreign market, which included the creation of oil pipelines for the transportation of Azerbaijani oil and gas. And thirdly, it was necessary to draw on the experience of other countries, one of which was Norway, to create the oil fund of Azerbaijan, which had been created even before the country began to receive oil revenues.
Movsumov pointed out that the wise decisions of the great leader Heydar Aliyev contributed to the development of the energy industry of Azerbaijan.