Heydar Babayev, the Azerbaijani Minister for Economic Development, met on 6 November with members of the Union of Azerbaijani-Turkish Businessmen (ATIB) to consider the Turkish entrepreneurs' problems in Azerbaijan, Trend reports.
Babayev reported on the economic achievements of Azerbaijan over 15 years of independence. He noted that there is not a single country in the world that could have achieved such success after the collapse of the USSR, this has been possible through the availability of oil and gas and partially, within the agriculture sector (cotton). Nevertheless, problems still exist. The Minister said that further economic development in Azerbaijan should be based on past experience and directed at the multi-lateral development of economy. The natural resources can become exhausted with the country producing oil revenues for 10-15 years or a maximum of 20 years. Therefore, the Government should aim to develop the non-oil sector on a parallel with the oil industry, Babayev said.