BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 1
Trend:
We want foreign investors to invest in Azerbaijan. Public investment has already played its role, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to the Azerbaijan Television after attending a groundbreaking ceremony of Alat Free Economic Zone, Trend reports.
“The leaders of the Free Economic Zone will hold various events both in the country and abroad. Presentations should be made and direct contacts with potential investors should be established. At the same time, representatives of the Free Economic Zone will be sent to different countries and potential investors will be invited here from abroad. Also, I am telling our embassies in foreign countries to inform potential investors about the establishment of this zone during their contacts. We have intergovernmental commissions with many countries. I am also telling heads of these commissions to ensure that the Free Economic Zone is represented at the meetings of such commissions and that this issue is on the agenda. I want to say this again because we have such commissions with many countries. But when analyzing the work of these commissions, I see that foreign companies usually try to act more as contractors in Azerbaijan. In other words, they mostly want to make money in Azerbaijan – this is what it means. We do not mind that because we are attracting foreign contractors even to the liberated lands now. But we want foreign investors to invest in Azerbaijan. Public investment has already played its role. We have implemented all major infrastructure projects. Of course, large-scale construction work is now underway on the liberated lands. This will lead to a major economic recovery. But we must understand that without direct foreign investment, our country cannot develop the way we want. Therefore, the intergovernmental commissions with other countries should, first of all, try to attract funds to Azerbaijan from abroad. I think this zone can be of interest to potential investors,” the head of state said.