Azerbaijan, Baku, April 8 / Trend /
Trend Commentator Arzu Nagiyev
One of the most important regional events of the World Economic Forum is taking place on Monday in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. The agreement to hold it was achieved between the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the founder and the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab at the annual session of the Forum, held on January 23 to 27 in Davos (Switzerland).
Holding the forum in Baku means the recognition of Azerbaijan as a country of global business and one of the factors contributing to the development of cooperation and integration in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, as this forum is not only a forum for discussion but also an opportunity for economic and political research.
The forum held in Baku is mainly attended by world-known businessmen, political leaders, prominent intellectuals and leading journalists.
Before the event, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab.
During the meeting the participants noted the importance of holding the World Economic Forum in Baku, spoke about the rapid economic development processes going on in Azerbaijan. They expressed confidence that the World Economic Forum in Baku will be successful and will promote the expansion of the economic cooperation.
"The main task faced by Azerbaijan now is diversification of the economy," the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the event.
It is known that the energy sector is most attractive for foreign investments, and, taking advantage of this, Azerbaijan must present itself to the world, to the business community not only as a country with rich natural resources, but also as a country adherent to economic reforms.
In his speech bthe President said that 20 years is certainly not a very long period from the historical point of view, but at the same time it was a real period of transformation.
Indeed, during the last ten years the country has received more than $ 130 billion of investments, part of which being foreign investments, the economy has grown three times, a modern socio-economic infrastructure and the dynamic development of non-oil sector have been created.
While in 2003 the public budget was $ 1.5 billion, in 2013 it was brought up to $ 25 billion, creating over one million new workplaces. The unemployment rate in the country was reduced to 5.1 percent, the strategic currency reserves of the country exceeded $ 46 billion.
The successful parking of the satellite "Azerspace 1" is a great achievement of Azerbaijan in space industry sphere.
"One of the most outstanding events of the recent period was the signing of an agreement on TANAP project, initiated by Azerbaijan, which has received strong support from our partners in Turkey and Georgia," the President Ilham Aliyev said.
This opinion of Ilham Aliyev speaks about his confidence about achievement of regional cooperation only in politically stable and developing countries, positive attitude of the participating countries to these processes, as well as creation of appropriate conditions for the efforts that will promote the improvement of living standards of the people.
In conclusion I would like to stress once again that this forum is not only a platform for discussions, but also an important space allowing demonstrating the success of entrepreneurs of the country, another opportunity to convey the economic and political researches to the world.