Azerbaijan and Iranian businessmen held a meeting in Baku on 23 November 2006, Trend reports.
Organized by the National Confederation of Employers and the Iranian embassy in Baku, the key objective of the visit of 25-members of Iranian delegation of businessmen is to get familiar with the current situation in the sphere of food industry, fruit juices, grain culture, electricity, engineering construction, production and sale of pipes, production of carpets, as well as study of opportunities for investing into Azerbaijan.
The Deputy Head of the Department for Development of Entrepreneurship at the Ministry of Economic Development, Huseyn Pashayev, informed the guests about economic situation in the country, noting that share of private sector exceeds 77%. The budget deficit was decreased to 1-2% of the GDP, while the current debt does no exceed 13.5% of the GDP. Azerbaijan occupied a leading place among CIS countries and based on the result of 2005, the growth of GDP was 26.4%.
The amount of per capita investments makes Azerbaijan as a leader in the world. Iran is considered to be one of Azerbaijan's big partners. Presently over 200 companies function in Azerbaijan with the Iranian investments, Pashayev said. From 1999 to 2005 the Iranian businessmen invested some $350mln in Azerbaijan. In January to August 2006 the goods turnover between the countries became $229mln.
A representative of the Organization for Development of Trade, Huseyn Soltani, noted the importance for conducting such measures which promote the establishment of direct contacts between the Azerbaijani and Iranian businessmen.