BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27
By Huseyn Safarov - Trend:
It is important for Azerbaijan to have international structures operating on its territory, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Director of the Azerbaijan Studies Center of the Ural Federal University (UrFU, Yekaterinburg, Russia) Alexander Nesterov told Trend.
Nesterov, who is also the head of the Yekaterinburg representative office of the Baku International Multiculturalism Center, was commenting on the upcoming opening of the affiliate regional center of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Azerbaijan soon.
The WEF affiliate regional center will open in Azerbaijan. The corresponding protocol of intent was signed during a meeting between President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and WEF President Borge Brende. Azerbaijan is one of the first countries which signed this document with the WEF.
“In general, Azerbaijan has great opportunities and prospects,” the expert said.
"The opening of the WEF affiliate regional center in Baku is another addition to strengthen Azerbaijan’s positive image as a regional and international hub," Nesterov said.
The expert thinks that Azerbaijan’s own initiatives, such as the creation and activity of the Baku International Multiculturalism Center, which greatly strengthens Azerbaijan’s image as a tolerant country, successfully combining tradition and modernity and being the humanitarian center of a big region, achieve much more success.
In turn, Belarusian political analyst Aleksey Tokarev stressed that the opening of the WEF affiliate regional center will allow Azerbaijan to discuss the economic issues with other participants and strengthen the interstate cooperation.
“Practice shows that as far as the economy develops and investments are made, the European standards are important. As for the oil sector, I think that the opening of the WEF affiliate regional center in Baku will help attract investments in this sector," he said.