Baku Looks To Attract American Investment In Azerbaijan, Hosts Azerbaijan-US Business Forum

Baku is keen to attract more U.S. investment into Azerbaijan, the largest economy in the South Caucasus region, as the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) brought together entrepreneurs from both countries at the Azerbaijan-US Business Forum, held on October 16.

“Azerbaijan and the U.S. actively interact in realm of energy, but this partnership may be expanded, as we have great opportunities for cooperation,” said Sahil Babayev, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Economy Minister, while addressing the group gathered on Monday. Babayev sees industry, agriculture, logistics, high technologies and tourism all as priority areas for Azerbaijan’s economic development.

American investments in Azerbaijan currently include more than 235 different enterprises, according to Babayev.

“The profit of the U.S. companies received from investing in Azerbaijan amounted to $17 billion, which once again shows that our country retains its investment attractiveness,” Babayev said.

According to Azerbaijan’s official statistical committee, in the period between 1995 and 2016 the total gross inflow of foreign direct investment amounted to $79.1 billion, while U.S.’ share was $12 billion; about $1 billion of that amount was invested in the non-oil sector.

With a gross domestic product (GDP) of over $37 billion, Azerbaijan is the largest economy in the South Caucasus region, which also includes Georgia and Armenia, and the fourth largest in the Caspian region, coming ahead of Turkmenistan and trailing behind Russia, Iran and Kazakhstan.

Energy-rich Azerbaijan’s export is primarily pegged to hydrocarbons. But officials in Baku have been looking to change that. After 2014, when the global price of crude oil spiraled downwards, officials increased their efforts aimed at developing non-oil sectors of the economy to strengthen economic stability.

A package of economic reforms, headlined the “Strategic Roadmap of the National Economy,” was approved by President Ilham Aliyev in 2016 and prioritized the development of Azerbaijan’s manufacturing and agricultural processing sectors, heavy industry and machinery, logistics and trade, tourism, as well as communication and information technologies. 

The one-day business forum was organized by AZPROMO and the United States-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce. The event brought together 150 entrepreneurs, including representatives of 17 companies specializing in construction and building materials, information and communications technologies, finance, agriculture, payment and security systems, car rental services and logistics.

Susan Sadigova, co-organizer of the event who is also the Executive Director at the United States-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, told Caspian News that Azerbaijan is actively working to attract more U.S. investment.

“The only problem is the lack of information about where they [American companies] can invest. To do this, we try to provide these companies with information or bring them here, as we did today, and also conduct educational conferences in different cities of the United States,” she said.