Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19
By Kamala Mammadli - Trend:
Over past 25 years, oil production in Azerbaijan has been increased by over four times, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said, Trend reports citing official media outlets.
According to him, currently, Azerbaijan is on a par with the leading countries of the world in terms of economic development.
"Over the past 25 years, Azerbaijan's GDP has increased 216 times and the poverty level has decreased 10 times," Abdullayev added.
According to the SOCAR president, the transformation of oil profits into human capital contributed to the economic prosperity of the people.
"As the head of state noted, the Contract of the Century created the opportunity to redirect oil profits to the non-oil sector," Abdullayev said.
The SOCAR president added that this contract is of great importance for the modernization of the oil and gas sector, primarily for attracting new technologies and the use of modern technology.
"In total, approximately $265 billion were invested in the country's economy, including $101 billion investments in the oil sector. Investments in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) field exceeded $26 billion," Abdullayev added.
SOCAR President noted that Azerbaijan is known to foreign investors around the globe as a reliable partner. "Annual investment growth is evidence of this," he added.
The SOCAR president also noted that the favorable conditions created for companies that invest in Azerbaijan made it possible to sign a new agreement in 2017 on the development of the ACG block until 2050.
Abdullaev expressed the hope that the continuation of the Contract of the Century will contribute to the expansion of cooperation.
The Contract of the Century was signed in 1994. This was the first agreement of Azerbaijan with large foreign oil companies, which were invited to invest in the development of the country's huge oil and gas resources in the Caspian.
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