Baku hosts Azerbaijani-German business forum

Samir Veliyev, Officer of the Ministry of Economic Development, briefed the participants about Azerbaijan’s economic performance, saying Azerbaijan is one of the countries confronting the global financial crisis.

“A number of countries fell to economic recession, some plants went broke and closed, and other problems emerged, but Azerbaijan didn’t see these situations,” he added.

According to him, Azerbaijan’s GDP growth rate was 10.8% last year and 3.4% over the first two months of this year.

“Non-oil sector growth was 14% and private sector provided 85% of GDP. Non-oil economy should be further developed, and competitive and favorable environment should be established,” he noted.

In his words, Germany has to date allocated ?44 million for implementation of technical projects in Azerbaijan besides ?245 million worth of loans and ?24 million worth of grants.
He added that trade turnover between the two countries reached $804 million in 2008, up 64% from a year ago.

German ambassador to Azerbaijan Per Stankina said Azerbaijan is one of favorable countries for German businesses.

According to him, Azerbaijan has enjoyed economic growth rate not below 25% over the recent years and the growth is expected not to be below 10% this year.

Margit Steffel, German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology’s Officer for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Central Asia and Caucasus, underscored the importance of the business forum, saying it will contribute to the further development of cooperation between the two countries.

She quoted German statistics as saying Azerbaijan is Number 6 country in Germany’s oil and gas imports.

Afgan isayev, CEO of Azerbaijan Investment Company, and AzPromo President Rahim Huseynov delivered presentations about potential and activities of their organizations.

Representatives from 20 German and 40 Azeri companies are attending the forum.

As part of the forum, the parties will have bilateral meetings.

/APA/