President Aliyev: Azerbaijan – a leader in terms of development pace of cotton-growing
Today, Azerbaijan is a leading country in the world in terms of development pace of cotton-growing, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said.
He made the remarks addressing a republican conference on development of cotton-growing in Barda District on March 26.
The head of state spoke about the great benefits of cotton-growing for the country's economy.
He noted that cotton-growing primarily means employment, it brings currency to the country, develops the non-oil sector, non-oil industry. It gives momentum to local production, creates jobs not only in the districts involved in cotton-growing, but also in other districts, added the head of state.
"Today, Azerbaijan is a leading country in the world in terms of development pace of cotton-growing. I do not believe that there is a second country in the world that could increase cotton harvest by more than six times within two years. We have achieved this through targeted measures," the president noted.
"I would like to once again say that if the state support was not provided to cotton-growing, we would not have achieved this: 35,000 tons would have been harvested in 2015, and perhaps 20,000 tons would have been harvested this year and maybe not. Thus, cotton-growing would have completely disappeared. We did not allow this. We have saved, restored, and will revive cotton-growing. We will hear information about the work done, and also we will talk about the forthcoming work at today's conference. I should note that our main task will be the productivity increase in the following years, because the experience of past years shows that there is a lot of progress," the head of state said.
"In 2016, about 90,000 tons of cotton were harvested, and 207,000 tons - in the previous year. Despite the fact that the crop was harvested in big volumes, the productivity per hectare is not at the proper level. It is at a very good level - more than 26 quintals - in Barda District. However, the productivity is very small in some districts," he noted.
The reasons for this are analyzed and should be analyzed in order to prevent the shortcomings in the future, and to reach even higher productivity, President Aliyev added.
New ADB strategy to promote inclusive development in Azerbaijan
The new partnership strategy of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with Azerbaijan will promote inclusive development in the country, Head of the ADB Azerbaijan Office Nariman Mannapbekov said in an interview with Trend and Azernews.
The strategy will be designed for 2019-2023. It is planned to be coordinated fully with strategic road maps that are being implemented in Azerbaijan. The previous five-year partnership strategy between ADB and Azerbaijan was approved in 2014.
"This year we are completing the program, implemented since 2014. It covers the spheres of transport, energy and water supply, urban infrastructure and services. According to preliminary estimates, we can say that we have done a great job, nevertheless, we still have something to strive for. The volume of our credit and other operations has grown. We began to cooperate in new areas, such as the railway sector, electricity distribution and education," Mannapbekov added.
Foreigners put 49% of all investments in Azerbaijan's fixed capital
In January-February, the foreign investments made in fixed capital of Azerbaijan amounted to 897.4 million manats, said a report of the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan.
The investment made during the reporting period is 36 percent less than in the same period in 2017.
During the reporting period, investors from Great Britain, Turkey, Switzerland, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, Japan, the United States, Russia and Iran accounted for 86.1 percent (773.1 million manats) of investments made by foreign countries and international organizations in Azerbaijan's economy.
Foreign investments in January-February 2018 made up 49.25 percent of the total investments made in Azerbaijan's fixed capital. This is 18 percentage points less than in January-February 2017.