The international forum "Buttonwood Breakfast: Global Economics" was held in Baku with support of PASHA Bank

On April 4th Hilton Baku hotel hosted the international forum Buttonwood Breakfast: Global Economics. The forum was organized by The Economist Group with direct participation of one of the largest banks of Azerbaijan - PASHA Bank. The main objective of the forum was the review of the development prospects of the world economy and the discussions between the invited experts and 35 investors and the management of business structures at regional level of the possibility of implementation and potential impact of variety of economical scenarios.

As the Chairman of Board of PASHA Bank Farid Akhundov noted in his welcome speech to the participants, despite the difficult situation in the world economy, Azerbaijan managed to strengthen its status of key player of the region over the last years. "GDP of the country constitutes about 2/3 of the total GDP of the Trans-Caucasian region and considering the fact that Azerbaijan achieved a considerable progress in diversification of the economy, it is becoming more prominent and authorative in international arena. In its turn, the banking sector is a distinctive "bridge" between the investors and real sector of the economy, as we are well aware of demands and problems of both parties. We are pleased to note that PASHA Bank, from the first day of its activity, directly facilitates the diversification process by targeting the companies representing the non-oil sector. From this point of view, it is quite symbolical that The Economist Group is holding this event together with us - one of the largest banks of Azerbaijan".

Further in the event, Neil McKain, the head of the representative office of European Bank of Reconstruction and Development in Azerbaijan Daniel Broby, the investment manager of Silk Invest and others made presentations.

After listening to the presentations the representatives of the world business invited to Baku could exchange their opinion on such issues as the economical situation during the post-crises period in the countries of Euro-zone, Asia and America; the possibility of potential impact of the number of economical scenarios and appearance of new challenges for the world economy as well as - in terms of abovementioned - on investment prospects for entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan, economy of which was less affected by the financial crisis.

Overall, tens of representatives of the internationally recognized companies like BP, Chevron, Societe Generale, Commerz Bank, Ernst & Young, etc. participated in Buttonwood Breakfast: Global Economics.

We must note that The Economist was organised Buttonwood Breakfast forum in Baku for the first time in last 4 years. Also, on November 2011 PASHA Bank was an official partner of the international conference in Tbilisi dedicated to the analysis of investment possibilities in Georgia.