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Additionally, Azerbaijan is gradually
changing from a capital importing to a
capital exporting country.

Regarding foreign trade, as a WTO- 4116 44 i dat &I

l II$ 1U
acceding country Azerbaijan is com- AR liii VIII

ll IIS fill II ll
mitted to fully liberalizing its foreign
trade relations and to aligning them
with WTO requirements. As a result
of implementing the complex reforms
in this sphere, all kinds of foreign eco-
nomic activities are being carried out.
Azerbaijan is conducting export and
import operations with almost 150 main factor in diversifying the natio- serious decreases in general economic
countries in 2012 and the country's nal economy and maintaining sustai- indicators, like GDP growth, inflation,
foreign trade turnover was about nable growth in Azerbaijan. This will employment, foreign trade turnover
US$34 billion for this year, where obviously increase the country's role and so on. Contrary to the situation
export's share was US$ 24 billion. and importance in the international in most countries, a number of inter-
economy, and we will derive more national agencies like Fitch, Moody's
As regards the poverty and unemploy- benefits from foreign economic rela- and S&P have upgraded the credit
ment indices in our country, following tions. rating of Azerbaijan over this period.
successful socio-economic policies Financial turmoil showed that our
the poverty rate in Azerbaijan has It should be stated that the occupation economic system is ready to adapt to
decreased from 49% in 2003 to 6% in Of 20% of Azerbaijani lands by Arme- changes taking place as a result of global
2012. This is one of the highest levels nia is negatively affecting the overall decline and this has confirmed the need
of poverty reduction in the world. Due economic development of our region. to continue diversifying the economy
to the creation of more than 1 million Unfortunately, four UN resolutions on to make it more secure and resistant.
jobs in the last ten years, the unem- unconditional withdrawal of Armenian
ployment rate has dropped to 5.1%. separatists from our occupied territo- However, being a part of the glo-
ries have not yet been implemented. I bal economy we have been faced, of
These positive trends have been re- am sure that through the efforts of the course, with some consequences of the
cognized at the international level. international community the conflict recent crises. First of all, we can men-
Fast and widespread economic deve- will be resolved and Azerbaijan will tion a decline in oil revenues based
lopment in Azerbaijan has been ac- regain its opportunity to fully contri- on serious price reductions in global
knowledged by several global organi- bute to the economic development of energy markets. At the same time,
zations and internationally recognized the South Caucasus region, as well as our overall foreign economic relations
reports. Azerbaijan was nominated as the international economy. have suffered due to significant econo-
"the most reformist" country in the mic regression taking place in Azerbai-
field of business environment improv- Q: Most European countries have jan's major trade partners.
ement in the "Doing Business 2009" been -- and still are -- in troubled
report jointly prepared by The World economic waters. How has the Q: You have often been summoned by
Bank and the International Finance financial turmoil affected your Parliament to give an expert opinion.
Corporation. country? What does it feel like to have this kind
of responsibility and on what subjects
The "Global Competitiveness Report" Having a background in internatio- have they sought your advice?
published by the World Economic nal economics, it is clear to me that
Forum 2012 ranked Azerbaijan as periodic economic crises originate The rector of our university has played
forty-sixth among 142 countries, as in the very nature and complexity of an extremely important role in my ca-
well as first among Commonwealth of the global economy. The recent crises reer starting from the first year of my
Independent States countries. In UN- showed that they are able to have a ne- university education. Besides being
DP's "Human Development Report", gative impact on even the biggest and my teacher during a number of inter-
Azerbaijan improved its position from strongest national economies, as well national economic courses, Professor
101st in 2005 to 67th in 2010. As a as on common markets like the Euro- Shamsaddin Hajiyev was academic
result Azerbaijan moved from the pean Union. advisor for my bachelor, master and
group of "medium human develop- Ph.D. theses. He is a founder and the
ment countries" to the "high human Fortunately, I can say that Azerbaijan is head of International Economics De-
development countries". one of the few economies that has been partment at ASEU.
less affected by the global crises over
All of these facts show that Azerbaijan the last ten years due to its well-desi- Besides being the rector of ASEU,
is one of the most rapidly developing gned and balanced national macro- since 2005 he has been chairman of
economies in the world. We should economic policy, sustained financial the Science and Education Committee
maintain this trend by continuing to system and timely preventive mea- of the National Assembly (Parliament)
implement scientifically proven and sures. As evidence we can mention the of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In that
interconnected economic policies in favourable macro-economic indices year he suggested that I become an
the future. In this context, the efficient of Azerbaijan's economy during this expert for that committee and a new
use of our oil and gas revenues is the crisis period. There have not been any direction in my career began. We deal

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