Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.21
Trend:
Investments made in the implementation of the Contract of the Century paid off in full, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, addressing the ceremony to mark 25th anniversary of Contract of the Century and Oil Workers Day on Sept.20, Trend reports.
The head of state noted that Azerbaijan was regarded as a risky country at that time.
“Let me reiterate that the occupation of our lands by Armenia, the civil war and the economic difficulties did nothing to demonstrate Azerbaijan as a country favorable for investment. At that time, one of the biggest achievements of Heydar Aliyev was that he was able to convince investors. The leadership of the State Oil Company – our late friend Natig Aliyev, Khoshbakht Yusifzade, Valeh Alasgarov, myself and a few other colleagues tried to convince investors that it was possible and necessary to invest in Azerbaijan and that whoever invested in Azerbaijan today would benefit greatly tomorrow. And so it happened. Investments made in the implementation of the Contract of the Century paid off in full. Foreign investors earned billions of dollars in revenue. The income of the Azerbaijani state has exceeded one hundred billion dollars,” he said.
“In other words, I want to say again that this contract occupies a worthy place in world because the interests of both the state and investors were secured. At the same time, oil revenues created the conditions for the rapid development of our country. We are aware of what is happening in the oil industry in the world. In many cases, oil does not bring happiness. In fact, it brings tragedy, confrontation, inequality and injustice. In Azerbaijan, oil has benefited the people because oil revenues were channelled in our overall development, created the conditions for resolving social issues and ushered opportunities for strengthening the international standing of our country. Modernizing cities, landscaping villages, improvement in the country – our oil industry lies at the heart of all this,” added the president.