The United States - Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC) announced its 6th Business and Investment Conference, theme of which is entitled US - Azerbaijan Strategic Relations: Political and Commercial Priorities in Washington D.C. Azerbaijani President will honor the forum.
Organized by the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC), the forum will start at 09.00 with welcoming address by the co-chair of the USACC, James A.Bekker.
Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, will deliver the keynote address titled Azerbaijan: Political and Commercial Priorities at its 6th Business and Investment Conference on April 27, 2006 at 09.10.
Christian Petersen, Chief Economist, World Bank, will deliver a paper titled From Oil to Non-Oil Economy: The Policy of Diversification. Other speakers will the Minister for Economic Development, Heydar Babayev, the Minister of Finances, Samir Sharifov, the Minister for Communications and Information Technologies, as well as the Minister for Tourism and Culture, Abulfaz Garayev.
At 11:00 Emil Majidov, President of the Azerbaijani Fund for Export and Investments Promotion Azpromo will deliver a paper on Trade and Investment in the Non-Oil Sector. Other speakers on theme will be Jahangir Hajiyev, the Chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan, Sergiusz Wiza, General Manager of Microsoft CIS, Gerald Phillips, Chief Operating Officer, Anglo-Asian Mining plc and Dan Mathews, Managing Partner and Baker & McKenzie.
In the afternoon Senator Sam Brownback is expected to deliver paper on The US Interests in Azerbaijan and the Caspian Basin
Speakers on Prospects of the Eurasian Transportation Corridor will be Zeyno Baran, Senior Fellow of Hudson Institute, Ambassador Elizabeth Jones, Executive Vice President of Apco, Elshad Nassirov, Vice President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, Vladimir Socor, Senior Fellow of Jamestown Foundation.
Speeches on Caspian Energy and International Markets will start at 15.00. The notes on the topic will be made by Frank Verrastro, Director of Energy Program of CSIS, Rovnag Abdullayev, the President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, as well as Dan Stein, Regional Director, US Trade and Development Agency.
Later the discussions on The Dynamics of US - Azerbaijan Relations will be held. The key speakers are David Merkel, Director of the National Security Council, Hafiz Pashayev, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United States. Matt Bryza, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Svante Cornell, the Research Director of the Central Asian Caucasus Institute, SAIS Johns Hopkins University.
The conference will offer an unparalleled opportunity to receive updates about Azerbaijan and the Caspian region and to meet with the President and key decision-makers in the Azerbaijani government and business communities.