Azerbaijan, Baku, April 4 /Trend A.Hasanov/
Possibilities to diversify the Azerbaijani economy to reduce dependence on oil and gas were discussed at the Buttonwood Breakfast conference last Wednesday in Baku.
"Investment in agriculture, information technology, communications and so on is required to resolve this problem," Economist Conferences for Europe, Middle East and Africa official Dougal Thomson told reporters after the conference.
"It is not worth expecting a large number of investors from the euroarea, but there are prospects for attracting Chinese investment, since China is a potential source of foreign investment," Thomson said.
Regarding training, Thompson stressed the need to develop not only the higher education system, but also technical education.
"Reforms in education are very important, in which the government hasa leading role," Thomson said.
In his opinion, it would be good to create such a developed stockmarket, as in Turkey, with the same liquidity.
According to Thomson, leaders in the application of corporate governance in Azerbaijan were foreign companies, which are presented on the Azerbaijani market.
"We want to Azerbaijani companies themselves to be focused on the development of this direction," Thomson said.
The conference also discussed issues of consolidation in the banking system. The conference was organized by The Economist sponsored by PASHA Bank.