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Weekly actual topics in Azerbaijan (Oct. 16-20)

Analysis Materials 24 October 2017 15:20 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan may play important role in strengthening of D-8: expert

Azerbaijan’s participation in the 9th Summit of the Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) proves once again that the country may play an important role in strengthening of D-8, Naciye Selin Senocak, UNESCO Cultural Diplomacy, Governance and Education Chair Holder at Istanbul Aydin University, told Trend.

Senocak, who is also the director of the Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies (CEDS) in Paris, was commenting on the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as a special guest in the D-8 summit held in Istanbul.

Prior to that, Azerbaijan spoke in the UN with important initiatives that can help restoration of peace and can also become an example for the Islamic world, Senocak said.

In her opinion, as long as the Muslim countries don't unite and achieve development, they will be threatened by a split under the influence of external forces.

“We shouldn’t forget that more than four million Muslims have died so far after the war in the Persian Gulf,” she said. “The development of Muslim countries can only take place through the strengthening of the D-8.”

The expert noted that the idea of ​​creating the D-8, which includes Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey, was expressed by former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan.

“Unfortunately, after the death of Professor Erbakan, Turkey didn’t pay proper attention to the D-8, but paid attention to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is more passive,” she said.

She noted that if proper attention is paid to the D-8, it will be able to become as strong as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and may become an alternative market to the EU.

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing the D-8 summit, said the composition of the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (aka Developing-8) should expand.

Erdogan noted that economic and political ties between the D-8 member countries should also expand.

The Turkish president also said that the D-8 member countries should use their national currencies in trade.

Azerbaijan holds important position in Islamic world

Today Azerbaijan is a country that has achieved great success in political and economic spheres within 26 years of independence.

Azerbaijan implements important economic, as well as energy projects today, which are aimed not only at its own development, but also at the development of neighboring countries.

If one takes into account that the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) will be implemented in 2018, one can say that Azerbaijan is almost ready to ensure the energy security of Europe. Meanwhile, Turkey is turning into an energy hub due to TANAP.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway, which will be commissioned on October 30, is another important project in international cargo transportation.

What is the secret of Azerbaijan’s success in such a short period?

First of all, Azerbaijan has succeeded due to internal stability, which is an important condition for the political and economic development of the country.

The second important factor of Azerbaijan's success is that the country has never used its energy potential as a means of political pressure as opposed to some other countries.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Istanbul to participate as a special guest in the D-8 summit once again underscores the importance and irreplaceable role of Baku among the countries of the Islamic world, in particular, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria and Bangladesh, which established the D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation in 1997.

It is known that the D-8 countries have rich natural and human resources. Accordingly, the maximum use of this potential through cooperation within D-8 can benefit both the member-states of the organization and Azerbaijan, which has established close relations with most of them.

Despite the big number of Muslim countries in the world, it was Azerbaijan that was invited as a special guest for this summit.

The main theme of the summit is the strengthening of economic relations.

Azerbaijan's participation in the D-8 summit will allow the country to demonstrate its economic and energy model among the giant countries of the Islamic world.

Earlier, Azerbaijan also participated as a special guest in the G20 summit, which was held in Turkey’s Antalya city in November 2015, which, undoubtedly, once again testifies that Azerbaijan’s importance in the world is steadily increasing.

WB forecasts confident growth of Azerbaijan’s agricultural sector

The production of agricultural products will rise by 2.7 percent in Azerbaijan in 2017, according to the “Europe and Central Asia Economic Update” of the World Bank (WB).

According to the report, Azerbaijan’s agricultural sector will further grow in the next two years. The WB expects that production will increase by 2.8 percent both in 2018 and 2019.

The report says that thanks to the confident growth in agricultural and production sectors of Azerbaijan in 1H17, the non-oil economy expanded by 1.7 percent and non-oil exports increased by 11 percent.

Meanwhile, the WB forecasts a decrease of 2.7 percent in the industrial sector in 2017 and a decrease of 0.1 percent – in 2018.

According to WB analysts, industry will resume growth in Azerbaijan – 0.7 percent – in 2019.

The services sector, on the contrary, expects a gradual growth in the next three years, from 0.7 percent in 2017 to 2.8 percent in 2019.

Azerbaijan joined the WB Group in 1992.

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