A promising & strategic economy of Azerbaijan STIMULATES Arab & Egyptian investors’ appitite!
Ashraf AboArafe
As Azerbaijan makes promising and strategic steps in advancing economic freedom, “Egypt looks forward to cementing cooperation with Azerbaijan and pumping further Azerbaijani investments into the domains of major national projects, natural gas and the Suez Canal Development Corridor”, said Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Feb 22, 2018 during a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev in Cairo.
The Egypt’s House of Representatives on exempting diplomatic and special passport holders from entry visa requirements between Egypt and Azerbaijan and signed by president AbdulFatah El-Sisi on MAY 17 2019. The report was drafted by the foreign affairs and national security committees at the Parliament upon an agreement signed by both Egypt and Azerbaijan in Baku in May 24, 2010. The agreement also facilitates visits by high-ranking officials from both countries, as one of the international tools known to boost bilateral relations.
26 October 2019.. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov discussed ways of boosting tourism cooperation between both countries.
* .. about $7 billion!
November 2018, Egypt and Azerbaijan launched the first sxsdirect flight route between Baku and the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm El Sheikh. Both countries hope the route helps boost the volume of trade exchange between the two countries to hit about $7 billion.
* Competitive economy!
Azerbaijan’s economy has been on a steady upward trajjectory since 2005. It has positioned itself as a strategic transport hub between Europe and Asia. The economy grew 3.4 times between 2004 and 2019. During the same period, strategic foreign exchange reserves grew 27.6 times.
Twice Azerbaijan was recognized as a top business- reformer country in the Doing Business 2009 and 2019 reports. According to the World Economic Forum’s ” Global Competitivness Report 2019″. Azerbaijan ranks 2nd in the world with a maximum score of 100% in the electricity supply sub- component.
The existence of modern infrastructure in Azerbaijan creates ample opportunities for the promotion of economic activity. According to the Doing Business 2019 reports, the country ranks 9th out of 190 countries on the Starting a Business sub-indicator. In the “Global Competitivness Report 2019”, Azerbaijan ranks 31st on the transport infrastructure sub-index and 27th on the quality of road infrastructure sub-index.
We have attracted $UZ128 billion in foreign investment since 2004, which has contributed to the development of all sectors of the economy in order to further improve the Competitivness of Azerbaijan.
* Strategic context!
President of Azerbaijan, Mr Ilham Aliyev, gave a vision to set his country firmly on the road towards a knowledge-based and internationally competitive economy, where Azerbaijan will:
*.. become a competitive participat in international economic relations,
* .. establish a world class business environment with energy, transport,transit and logistcal inrastructure,
*.. become a diversified and export-oriented economy creating high added-value,
*.. further strengthen the role of non-sector in the economy.
* Strong Points to invest in Azerbaijan!
- The country’s key strong points include:
- – Competitive production costs;
– Low-cost and qualified labour;
– Significant gas potential in the Caspian Sea;
– Perspective of gas exports to Turkey and Europe;
– Connecting link between China and Europe through development of rail corridors with Iran, Turkey and Georgia;
– Substantial foreign currency assets in the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ);
– Favourable general business climate (25th position in the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking 2019).
- * Arab investment!
- For the above Catalysts, Saudi and UAE companies made agreements on renewable energy to boost investments in Azerbaijan. In 2018, the contracts recently signed by Azerbaijan, ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia) and Masdar (United Arab Emirates) on renewable energy can attract investments in Azerbaijan by other Gulf Cooperation Council members as well, Mohammed Alrmizan, a researcher at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (Saudi Arabia), told Trend.According to the agreements signed with Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry, pilot projects will be implemented for the construction of wind power plants with a capacity of 240 MW with ACWA Power, and for the construction of solar power plants with a capacity of 200 MW with Masdar.
- In general, production of about 1.4 billion kWh of electricity on wind and solar energy projects annually is predicted.”ACWA Power, another Saudi company owned by Saudi public and private assets, announced earlier in January the signing of an agreement with Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Energy for a big investment project. The recent agreement signed between ACWA Power and Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry shows how effective the bilateral relations are, not only in political, but also in economic sphere.
- Saudi companies’ opening offices, or bringing up business and investments in Azerbaijan should be seen as another layer of cooperation that is needed in both countries’ bilateral cooperation. Azerbaijan could also attract other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members to come and invest,” said the expert.Alrmizan noted that historical and current relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan reflect a good bilateral and cooperative perspective not only between the states, but also between the peoples of both countries.”Saudi Aramco just opened a representational office in Baku.
- Aramco’s opening office in Baku should be seen as a strong step for future cooperation between one of the largest oil companies in the world and Azerbaijan’s state and private entities. Saudi Arabia seeks to continue build up its cooperation with countries worldwide in all spheres of economy as a producing and consuming country. Azerbaijan is an important oil and gas producing country and has a good strategic position for Saudi Arabia to expand its economic and trade activities,” he concluded.
- Finally, no doubt that Egyptian investors think of a promising & strategic economy of Azerbaijan at the present.
