The Azerbaijani-Austrian business seminar took place on 17 October 2005 in Baku, Trend reports. A delegation of businessmen from Austria headed by the special representative of the Ministry of Economy and Labor on Investments and Foreign Trade Franz Cheska, the chairman of the Department on the Entrepreneurship Development of the Ministry of Economic Development Alihusseyn Shaliyev, representatives of various government bodies, as well as local entrepreneurs took part in the workshop.
Shaliyev familiarized the Austrian guests with the macro-economic indices of Azerbaijan and noted, by the forecasts of the international financial institutions the GDP growth in Azerbaijan will reach 30% till the year-end.
The department’s chairman said also for 8 months 2005 the foreign trade turnover of Azerbaijan constituted $5 billion with 120 countries worldwide. The growth made up 22% as compared to the previous year.
"The trade turnover for this period between Azerbaijan and Austria was $13,9 million. This small index, however, makes up 96% as compared to the previous year. The Austrian companies are engaged in constructing, freight and passenger traffic, consulting and etc. in Azerbaijan, Shaliyev reported.
There are large opportunities for the Austrian investors. They can be involved in introducing of new technologies on agricultural products processing and their export to the Russian market.
Franz Cheska told about the products manufactured in Austria and appreciated highly the Azerbaijan’s practice in the oil and gas industry.
According to him, Austria invested last year 16 million euro to Azerbaijan.