BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 25. To date, about 1,100 applications have been received for participation in projects in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh, of which about 390 are from foreign companies, Chairman of board of Azerbaijan’s Small and Medium Business Development Agency Orkhan Mammadov said at "The Role of Entrepreneurship in Economic Development" conference dedicated to Entrepreneur's Day, on April 25, Trend reports.
"Strategy for socio-economic development of Azerbaijan from 2022 through 2026 will create new opportunities for further business development in post-pandemic period. Liberation from occupation of our territories has also created additional opportunities for business development in Azerbaijan,” Mammadov said.
“It is well known that the territory of Karabakh is rich in natural resources and minerals, has great potential for the development of tourism, agriculture, processing and other industries. To date, we have received about 1,100 applications, of which about 390 are from foreign companies," he noted.
According to him, the activity of Azerbaijan’s Small and Medium Business Development Agency is aimed at creating new organizational models and promoting entrepreneurship in accordance with new challenges.
"Given that small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) account for 99.6 percent of economic entities operating in Azerbaijan, then, of course, sustainable development of country is closely related to the level of development of SMEs,” Mammadov added.
“We provide support to SMEs in 35 regions of Azerbaijan and more than 20 support centers operate there. We are actively working to expand tools to support and finance SMEs. Our agency issues relevant certificates to innovative entrepreneurs, which exempt them from income tax for a period of three years” Mammadov said.
Head of the agency also said that total turnover of micro-entrepreneurship entities increased by 31 percent, small businesses - by 79 percent and medium-sized businesses - by 139 percent, as a result of purposeful activities of Azerbaijani government in 2021.