Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy: Azerbaijan is a reliable partner for the UK

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“Azerbaijan is a reliable partner for the United Kingdom,” Member of British Parliament, Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan Charles Hendry has told a briefing called “The political, economic and commercial opportunities in Azerbaijan” in London.

The event, which involved diplomats and international delegates from the UK energy, financial services, information technology, infrastructure and agricultural sectors, was co-organized by the Central Asia and Transcaucasus Business Interest Group (CATBIG) and The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS).

“There is close cooperation between the UK and Azerbaijan. I always support the idea of British companies to do business in Azerbaijan”, said Mr. Hendry.

He praised energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UK: “BP is one of the biggest foreign investors in Azerbaijan.”

Mr. Hendry also hailed the development of information technologies, nano and biotechnologies, and aerospace industry in Azerbaijan.

Chairman of CATBIG Peter Lindsay emphasized the significance of organizing an event on a topic that is of particular importance to Azerbaijan.

Director of TEAS Lionel Zetter highlighted the importance of discussing political, economic and trade opportunities in Azerbaijan. He drew the audience`s attention to the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, calling it the “main problem” of Azerbaijan. “The problem still continues, Azerbaijan has more than one million refugees and internally displaced people,” he said.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to the UK Tahir Tagizade talked about bilateral relations between two countries and expressed confidence in their further strengthening.

He highlighted Azerbaijan`s development. The Ambassador noted that along with the oil sector, non-oil sector is also developing rapidly in Azerbaijan. Mr. Tagizade provided statistical information about the country`s progress in a variety of fields, including economic, political and social ones. “In 2003-2013, Azerbaijan’s economy grew 3.2 times, industrial production 2.7 times and agriculture 1.5 times.”

“This growth trend and dynamic economic development has continued in Azerbaijan in 2014 too. The economic indicators of the first nine months are very positive. During this period Azerbaijan’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 2.5% and most importantly, our non-oil sector grew by 6%. Inflation is very low, only at 1.5%. A total of 19 billion US dollars has been invested since the beginning of the year. Of this, 11 billion US dollars is domestic investment.”

The Ambassador said: “Next year Baku will host the First European Games and in 2016 the World Chess Olympiad. In 2016 Azerbaijan will also host a “Formula-1” Grand Prix. In 2017, we will hold Islamic Solidarity Games.”

He also laid out Azerbaijan`s future development plans and gave information about “Azerbaijan 2020: The Vision of the Future” development concept.

The meeting was followed by discussions and a question-and-answer session.

 

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