Speech by Ilham Aliyev at the Azerbaijani-Slovenian Business Forum

- Dear Mr. President!

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends!

First of all, Mr. President, I would like to thank you again for the invitation to visit your beautiful country and for the hospitality. This is my second visit to your beautiful country and I can see many changes. In this connection I would like to congratulate your government and the Ljubljana city council on the great work done in the area of landscaping and city infrastructure development.

The relations between our countries are developing very successfully. We are true friends and partners. This partnership already has a good history and very promising future. I am very pleased that the joint efforts of business circles towards strengthening the economic relations are in line with the political course of our countries to step up partnership between Slovenia and Azerbaijan. We have very good political relations. We continue the process of regular consultations between our countries at the high level and at the level of ministries. We also have a good potential for the development of business contacts. I think that new ideas will emerge as a result of the business forum being held today and practical results will be achieved.

Azerbaijan’s business opportunities being demonstrated today will clearly show the country’s priorities in the area of economic development, the difficulties we are facing and our business opportunities. Our country is open to foreign investors. The policy we have been conducting for the last several years has been very positive. Almost $100 billion was invested in Azerbaijani economy over the course of the last 15 years. The bulk of that was invested in the non-energy sector. I am saying this because Azerbaijan is an oil country, a producer and exporter of oil and gas. Our country is attractive from this standpoint. However, our goal is to diversify the economy, create a powerful non-energy sector and a sustainable economy in Azerbaijan.

I think that our country’s indicators in the area of economic development, liberalization and doing business in the last several years clearly show our goals. Even in the most difficult 2008-2009 period, which will be remembered as years of an economic downturn, our economy grew by 14 per cent although that year the oil price plummeted four to five times. In general, in the last seven years our GDP grew threefold, while the level of poverty dropped five times – from 49 to 9.1 per cent. The level of unemployment is 6 per cent. Investment in the infrastructure and the support for the private sector have created the current situation when our economy is no longer dependent on the energy factor. To us, the future economic development means the development of the non-oil sector because in the energy sector we have already achieved our main goals.

We have a diversified network of export pipelines consisting of seven oil and gas pipelines. We export our energy resources in different directions. One of the key issues in the Azerbaijan-EU agenda is energy security. Azerbaijan is contributing to the energy security on European markets. Early this year, the European Union and Azerbaijan signed an important Declaration on the southern gas corridor. At present, a working group has been established and is working quite fruitfully. I do hope that many other important steps will be taken in the coming months in the area of energy cooperation between the European Union and Azerbaijan. This is an important component of our development. This certainly opens up opportunities for us to develop our own financial resources and reinvest them in the economy, education, social infrastructure and other priority areas. So the energy sector is not top of our domestic priorities agenda. It is mainly important in foreign economic and political relations. At home we are attaching special importance to the sustainable economic development.

We have a great potential in the area of agriculture and processing of agricultural produce. It is also worth pointing to the tourism sector. At present, we are setting up international tourism and recreation zones. We are inviting Slovenian companies experienced in this area to take part in these important projects in our country. Six five-star hotels with a modern infrastructure will be opened in Baku and districts this year alone. The IT sector is another priority for us. We have also started the development of our own space industry. I am very glad that the IT sector is one of the areas in which we cooperate with Slovenian companies. Cooperation in this sector was also highlighted during the first business forum held in Baku with the participation of President Turk, and we supported this joint initiative.

Information technologies are developing very fast in Azerbaijan. We are paying special attention to this sector. At present, 50 per cent of our population are Internet users. In the coming years this sector will be playing a very important part in our domestic economic priorities. Economic diversification means the attraction of investment. We have a good experience in attracting foreign investment. We also have a detailed state investment program which covers mainly infrastructure projects. Every year we allocate sufficient resources for the development of infrastructure. I am inviting Slovenian companies to take part in these projects. A section of this forum is dedicated to the presentation of specific business and investment projects in Azerbaijan, a final report has been prepared. I think it has all the necessary information.

At the same time, I think it would be interesting to learn about projects that will be financed by our government. Slovenian companies can take part in such projects as contractors. They cover large areas: construction of roads and power stations, provision of drinking water, laying of sewage lines, construction of hospitals and schools. These projects cover all spheres of our life. Our goal is to implement the most important infrastructure and social projects by the end of the second development program, i.e. 2013. Subsequently, the development of the country and the sustainable economic growth in Azerbaijan will depend on the successes we will make with economic reforms. At present, the level of economic liberalization is very high.

This year both our countries will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their independence. I want to indicate that when Azerbaijan restored its independence, the share of the market economy in the GDP was equal to zero. Today, the private sector accounts for over 80 per cent of the GDP. We have to bear in mind that the main sources of the GDP and the energy infrastructure are controlled by the state. This means that privatization, the process of liberalization, creation of good conditions for local and foreign businesses are going in the right direction.

Slovenia is a friendly country for us and an important partner in this region. At the same time, the role and position of Slovenia as a European Union member have always been positive. We want to develop the EU-Azerbaijan relations to an even higher level. We have great bilateral relations with EU member-states. I think that the most important issues at such a significant stage in the development of relations between Azerbaijan and the European Union are to identify goals, prepare the roadmap for achieving them and establish a true partnership based on mutual interests and respect. From this standpoint, this process will be developing successfully. We support this development and will do everything we can to establish partnership of such nature.

We are very grateful to the Slovenian side and President Turk for the efforts being made towards bringing our regions closer together. We are an EU neighbor and partner. Our partnership will be expanding, political relations will be developing and, as I mentioned earlier in my remarks, the issues of energy security will be playing a greater role because we have resources. Europe needs an alternative source. In some sense, we already have a major transit infrastructure, and these opportunities must be further expanded. After we have established partnership in this sphere, it will last for decades.

Dear Mr. President and dear friends. I want to thank you all again for the hospitality we have enjoyed. I am pleased with the talks held yesterday and the documents signed today. My visit is continuing. I am sure that the visit and its results will play an important part in developin our relations further.

Thank you very much.