BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 25.The Azerbaijani economy has been demonstrating stability and growth throughout almost the entire period of independence, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said at the expanded meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council held in Moscow,Trend reports.
"We have achieved complete economic independence, which is an important factor in the possibility of pursuing an independent foreign policy, and we are successfully doing that. For about four years now, Azerbaijan has been successfully chairing the Non-Aligned Movement, which has 120 member countries and is the second largest international institution after the UN.
The Azerbaijani economy is self-sufficient and does not need outside support. Over the past 20 years, the gross domestic product of our country has more than tripled. The poverty rate has been reduced from almost 50 to 5 percent. Our external debt is almost at less than 9 percent of the GDP and has been declining year on year. Azerbaijan's foreign exchange reserves exceed the external debt 10 times," President Ilham Aliyev said.