This year 80 delegates took part in the event, including H.E. Tahir Taghizadeh, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan in The United Kingdom, Baroness Emma Nicholson, UK Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, representatives of the National Bank of Azerbaijan, the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications, the Azerbaijan Investment Company, the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan, as well as business circles of both countries, investors, financial experts and journalists of leading media.
Welcoming the participants of the event, Chairman of the Executive Board of PASHA Bank Taleh Kazimov noted that one of the main goals of annual organization of this international event is to provide the business circles of the UK and Azerbaijan with an additional opportunity to initiate even more productive communication among themselves.
"The changes taking place against the background of the decline in the dependency of the Azerbaijani economy on the oil and gas sector, lay the preconditions for the sustainable growth of the country's key macroeconomic indicators. All this opens wide horizons for the development of such sectors of the economy as agriculture, trade and services, information technologies, tourism, etc. By inviting our experts and business partners from Azerbaijan, we are striving to enable business community of Great Britain to be able to get acquainted with the prospects of development of the country and segments of the economy attractive from the point of view of investment from the first sources. We are confident that participation in today's event will allow the guests to build a successful business dialogue between themselves. In its turn, PASHA Bank, as a regional financial institution with rich experience and high expertise, is always ready to support the real sector and act as a reliable financial partner for both foreign and local business circles," Kazimov summed up his speech.
Within the framework of the business seminar, the participants of the event discussed the current state of economic relations between Azerbaijan and Great Britain, spoke on the current trends and challenges facing the countries, discussed the availability of the potential for development of cooperation in various sectors of the economy. During separate discussion panels "Recovering from oil dominancy” and “Most attractive sectors of the economy”, the invited experts shared their vision of the macroeconomic situation in Azerbaijan, their assessment of the economic reforms carried out in the country in recent years, their medium- and long-term forecasts on the further process of diversification of the country's economy and discussed other issues pressing for the business communities of both countries.
Business seminar "Azerbaijan: Ready for International Investment?" wrapped up its work yesterday, on 22-nd of February. It should be noted that this seminar was the third business event organized by PASHA Bank in the UK in the course of the past few years.