1st World Forum of Azerbaijani businessmen to gather investors from 33 countries

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

The World Forum of Azerbaijani businessmen will be held in Baku for the first time this fall bringing together 160 businessmen from 33 countries.

The State Committee on Work with Diaspora reported that this unique platform of world business circles will took place on October 28-29.

Azerbaijani businessmen working in the areas of agriculture, consulting, trade, IT, transportation and logistics, oil industry, textile, banking sector and others will participate in the forum.

A big delegation of more than 40 Azerbaijani businessmen from Russia will also take part in the event. Moreover, businesspeople from Turkey, Germany, Ukraine and Kazakhstan are expected to attend the forum.

From Azerbaijan, the event will be attended by businessmen working in agriculture, food industry, construction, oil, textile, IT and other sectors.

In total, more than 300 people are expected to take part in the forum, organized jointly by Azerbaijan’s Economy Ministry and State Committee on Work with Diaspora.

The idea of holding the forum was proposed at the Fourth Congress of World Azerbaijanis.

President Ilham Aliyev, addressing the Congress, called on the Azerbaijani businessmen, residing abroad, to invest in the country’s real economy, in particular, in agriculture, industry, tourism and high technologies.

Around 8.9 billion manats ($5.5 billion) were invested from all financial sources in the development of the economic and social areas of Azerbaijan in January-August 2016, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee.

About 1.039 billion manats ($0.64 million) was invested from all financial sources in the development of the economic and social areas of Azerbaijan in August 2016.

The total amount of foreign investments in the country's economy amounted to 5.5 billion manats ($3.4 billion) in the same period of time or by 24.6 percent more compared to January-August 2015.

An increase in foreign investments is a positive factor and points to the fact that Azerbaijan is a potential for foreign investors. The investments worth around 4.8 billion manats ($2.9 billion) (87 percent) made in Azerbaijan's economy by foreign countries and international organizations accounted for investors from the UK, Russia, Malaysia, Turkey, Sweden, Japan, US and Iran in January-August 2016.