Page 21 - DIVA_2_2018

INTERNATIONAL

to West and from the West to East passing through but surely we started to put the house in order. A very
Azerbaijan. Of course it was important in terms of important element of the economic policy at that time
trade and money, but most important was perhaps not was the opening of the oil fields of the Caspian Sea to the
trade and money but that the population was always outside world. Azerbaijan was the first country to invite
in touch with foreigners and their cultures and ways international oil companies to come and develop the
of life, and this opened their minds and made them sector. The first big oil contract between Azerbaijan and
receptive to new ideas, to diversity, to a broad idea of major international oil companies was signed in 1994. In
society. 1997-1998, we saw the oil flowing. Azerbaijan was fast
developing with this oil money until 2015, it was going
This is one of the reasons why there is such a diverse like a rocket. In 2006, our annual growth was close to 40
culture in Azerbaijan, and it is reflected in many ways, in percent, and we were on the top on all the charts. It helped
visual arts, music etc. us a lot in several ways. With all the money generated
from the oil, some people would say it's a curse, bad
We invest a lot in culture and education. These are the money, but all countries need money to develop. The big
biggest budget items. From 1991 to 1993 it was difficult, question is how you use it, either you waste it or you put
but today we have overcome these challenges. it into the right sectors. We immediately started to restore
and improve the infrastructure, because without roads,
Culture is important for everybody, but for small countries railways, electric lines, gas pipelines you cannot restore
like ours, it gives a potential to survive, in particular today the development of the country. This does not mean that
in the globalized world when you are literally bombarded we did not have this infrastructure before, but it was old
by information either through emails, tweets or TV and and in a bad shape after the Soviet Union's collapse. So
internet, etc. I do not want to sound like a hard-line the government invested a lot. This heavy investment, and
conservative, for this is not the case. Although it is positive the foundation it created, allow us today to invest in other
that the information space belongs to everybody, it's also sectors as well. Do not forget that we also had to invest a
important to keep your own space. If you don't, you will be lot in our defence sector because of the ongoing armed
dissolved in a big global mass ranging from Coca Cola to conflict with Armenia, and to continue to support almost
whatever. The beauty of the world is in its multi-cultural, 1 million refugees and internally displaced persons that
multi-coloured structure. Each culture has its own national we have as the result of this conflict and occupation of
colours. If we do not keep these various cultures, we will 20 percent of our territories by Armenia. We have been
end up with one vast, grey space, where all the colours building new houses for them. They are now provided
are dissolved slowly but surely. Today all major shopping with new accommodation, so, we do not have all these
streets around the world look more or less the same, and awful looking refugee camps like we had in the past.
you find more or less the same brands everywhere. Politically, the conflict continues, but the suffering of the
people has diminished. That was also an important area
Q. Europe has still not recovered completelyfrom the 2008 to invest in.
economic crisis. How are things in your country?
In 1992, when Azerbaijan restored its independence, the In 2015-16, we were seriously hit by the falling oil prices
economic situation was a complete disaster. We had an - thank God, not to the point of total chaos, for we were
inflation at that time of almost 1,800 per cent. Slowly, protected by our foreign currency reserves. But yes, we

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT - DIVA 19