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AzerbaijanDiversification in progress

Azerbaijani economy accounts fornearly 80% of the overall GDP ofthe three countries of the SouthCaucasus. Azerbaijan considers inte-grative efforts to world economy asan inevitable process, however,cementing opportunities to enhanceits national competitiveness. Addres-sing development challenges in thecontext of globalization Azerbaijandynamically develops its non-energysector in order to diversify econo-mic production and enhance itscompetitiveness in internationaltrade and investment. However,alongside with favorable investmentclimate, the Government has set agoal to maximize national assets for-mation, so as to improve generalsocio-economic living conditions ofpeople.As the country emerged rich in oiland gas, a unique history of deve-lopment of petroleum industry wasquickly and strongly kept in memo-ries and books. It is a well-knownfact that oil has been produced byindustrial methods in Azerbaijan forabout 150 years. By 1901, morethan 50 percent of the worlds oilhad been produced in Azerbaijan.At those times, a critical factor thataccelerated the dynamic develop-ment of the petroleum industry wasan active involvement of local andforeign manufactures and investorsin phases of exploration, recovery,transportation, refinery and marke-

ting of oil and oil products - the seg-ments of oil market so desperatelypromoting competition nowadays.During World War II, Azerbaijansingle-handedly contributed morethan 70 percent of total oil suppliesto the former USSR. Today, thereare nearly 100 countries who extractoil. Azerbaijan was one of the majorpioneers in this field.It is worth recollecting the names ofoil producers and oil companies thatoperated in Azerbaijan, such as theNobel Brothers and their famous"The Nobel Brother's Company",Shell Transport which became RoyalDutch Shell, the Rothschilds' BankHouse and several others. It comesas no surprise as why at those times,the oil-rich Azerbaijan attractedsuch tycoons who brought theirindustrial and banking know-howto Azerbaijan in pursuit of ensuringan access to Caspian oil reserves.The remarkable contributions oflocal oil-producers such as Tagiyev,Assadullayev, Nagiyev, Mukhtarovand a few others boosted the deve-lopment of the petroleum industryin Azerbaijan, prompted competi-tion for additional acreages, addi-tional explorations and even somemarketing instruments, which setthe tone for the world petroleummarket later on.Today, Azerbaijan produces 1 mil-lion barrels of oil per day and 30million cubic metres of gas per year.

Proven gas reserve is estimated atnearly 3 trillion cubic meters of gasand condensates. Due to its visio-nary and efficient energy strategy,Azerbaijan has become one of theworld players in the energy sectorand reliable strategic partners ofEurope.

A proactive strategyproducing successful resultsAzerbaijani economic potential isdiversified and offers promisingopportunities for investors in oil andgas production; oil refining; engi-neering; metallurgy; chemical;petrochemical; machine building;renewable energy; light and foodindustries; agriculture (cotton, tea,tobacco, silk worms, grapes, vegeta-

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AzerbaijanDiversification in progressToday, Azerbaijan is on the rise, exemplifying one of the most successful storiesamong the newly independent states in terms of political and economic stability,and having become one of the rapidly developing economies in Eastern Europe.Azerbaijan is particularly well-known in the world for its rich oil and gasresources, but has also very diversified economy with huge potential in the non-energy sector. This successful diversification is extremely promising for Frenchcompanies.

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The FrenchPresident, Mr.Franois Hollandewelcomes thePresident ofAzerbaijan, Mr.Ilham Aliyev, at thelyse on 18September 2012

CECA), that offer high potential forexpansion of regional cooperationtowards reaching the goals of sus-tainable development. A number ofinitiatives have been undertaken inthis direction, with the EU-sponso-red TRACECA program being oneof them.Building on the rich heritage goingback to the old days of the GreatSilk Road, today Azerbaijan canonce again boast of its instrumen-tal role in spreading the networks oftrade in the whole Eurasia, thusbringing the entire regional andinter-regional transportation net-works development to serve thegoal of sustainable and equitabledevelopment of nations.Due to its rich natural resources,its strategic location betweenEurope and Asia, its driving forcerole for regional undertakings asGreat Silk Route, TRACECA,Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil exportpipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gasexport pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki-Kars railway line (alsoknown as the Iron Silk Road),etc., large intellectual potential andskilled labor force, internationalobservers assess Azerbaijan as oneof most attractive countries of thewhole region for investors and par-ticularly, in the non-energy sector.Macroeconomic and political sta-bility in Azerbaijan and Bakusreputation as being only metropo-litan capital on the Caspian Seamake it more attractive.

Excellent bilateralcooperationFrance was, in 1992, the secondcountry recognized the indepen-dence of the Republic of Azerbaijanafter Turkey with the opening atthe same time French Embassy inAzerbaijan. And former Presidentof Azerbaijan Mr. Heydar Aliyevhas paid his first foreign visit toFrance in 1993 followed by severalother official visits in 1997 and2001; as actual President of Azer-baijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev has alsorealized his first visit abroad toFrance when he was elected in2003. On October 2011 President

of France Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy hasvisited Azerbaijan and signedimportant agreement on establish-ment of French Lycee in this coun-try which will serve as biggestFrench Lycee in the whole Cauca-sus region. Following to PresidentNicolas Sarkozys visit to Azerbai-jan, President Ilham Aliyev paid avisit to Paris in September 2012and attended with President ofFrance Mr. Franois Hollande theinauguration ceremony of theDepartment of Islamic Arts of theMuseum of Louvre. At the sametime, the Cultural Service of theEmbassy of the Republic of Azer-baijan in France was inaugurated.Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr.Elmar Mammadyarov met with hisFrench counterpart Mr. LaurentFabius twice in Paris in 2012 and2013.Excellent political relations havefollowed by the growth of mutualeconomic interests between Azer-baijan and France. And today Azer-baijan is biggest economic and tra-ding partner of France in the wholeregion of Caucasus. And France isamong Azerbaijan's leading tradingpartners. French companies asTOTAL and GDF SUEZ are activein energy sector of Azerbaijan, andFrench Banks as Societe General,BNP Paribas and companies asArianespace, Systra, Bouygues,Vinci, Astrium, Alsthom, etc. arevery active participants of variousimportant projects in the non-

energy sector of economy.And actually there are growing inte-rest of French companies andmainly SMEs to invest to Azerbai-jani economy and particularly, intothe non-energy sector as services,including tourism, agriculture,agro-industry, ICT, insurance, etc.Presidents, Ministers and otherhigh-level officials of two countriessigned more than 40 documents onvarious cooperation issues. TheGovernments of Azerbaijan andFrance have signed bilateral treatyon mutual protection and encoura-gement of investment and bilateraltreaty on avoidance of double taxa-tion. These two documents are keylegal basis for bilateral economiccooperation. Existence of directflight between Paris and Baku isanother comparative advantage forbusiness circles of two countries.Decentralised economic and cultu-ral cooperation between variousregions and cities of both countriesis also dynamically developing. TheHeydar AliyevF o u n d a t i o njointly with theEmbassy of theRepublic ofAzerbaijan inFrance is reali-zing new bigproject in the regions of Franceknown as The cultural values ofAzerbaijan, the Pearl of the Cauca-sus, aimed to promote Azerbaijansculture.


bles, fruits), including, food proces-sing and wine-production; in fastgrowing services sector as, informa-tion and communication technolo-gies (ICT); transport and transit ser-vices; construction; tourism,banking, insurance, etc.According to IMFs World Econo-mic Outlook 2005 survey, Azerbai-jan saw its real GDP growth amongthe highest in 2005 when it rose to26.4 percent and the highest ever inthe history of its development, andeven the highest in the world in2006 when it rose to 34.5 percent.The GDP has more than tripledduring the last years and internatio-nal organizations assess Azerbaijanieconomy as one of rapidly growingand stable economies in the world,and observe that high level growthin the non-energy sector is one ofthe important indicators of its suc-cessful economic performance andunprecedented growth.In 2013, GDP rose by 6% and rea-ched 57 billion and GDP percapita rose by 4.4% and constitu-ted 6,132 ; the non-energy sectorincreased by 10% and agriculture

by approximately 5%.According to the World BanksDoing Business report 2009-2010, Azerbaijan has made a bigjump from 97th place to 33rd outof 181 economies. Azerbaijanimproved in seven from 10 indica-tors, catapulting 64 places in therankings, the biggest jump everrecorded by the World Bank.Reforms affected such areas as star-ting a business, employing workers,registering property, getting credit,paying taxes, protecting investors,etc. A key component for securingthe top ranking was Azerbaijansapplication of one-stop shop alsocalled single window systemdecreased the costs, time and paper-work associated with opening upnew business in the country. Since2009 Azerbaijani Government com-menced to apply single windowsystem in customs as well.The Global Competitiveness Reportof the World Economic (Davos)Forum (WEF) 2012-2013 said thatout of 148 states Azerbaijan rankedthe 39th position. In the samereport again out of 148 states Azer-

baijan ranked 13th on macroeco-nomic stability index and WEFrecognized Azerbaijan the bestamong the newly independentstates.Azerbaijan is located on the verysouth-eastern border of the Euro-pean continent and serves as thenatural bridge between Europe andCentral Asia as well as it is the mostconvenient route from the north-east of Europe to the Middle East.The country is the logistics hub forthe Caspian region. Excellent infra-structure of the capital city of Baku(including largest regional sea andair terminal) is the best choice forany business entering the marketsof the Caspian Sea region.Creating an auspicious outlet forEurope towards Asian markets andvice versa, geo-strategic location ofAzerbaijan has also predeterminedits role as a reliable transit countrybetween Europe and Asia. In thisregard, Azerbaijan attaches also greatsignificance to the development ofcross-regional transport networks,such as Europe-Caucasus-Asia inter-national transport corridor (TRA-

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LE MOCI COMMUNICATIONC O M M U N I C A T I O N

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KEY FIGURES

Population: 9.4 million (2013)Life expectancy at birth: 75 yearsSurface area: 86 600 kmBorders: Turkey (15 km), Russia (390 km), Georgia (480 km), Iran(765 km), and Armenia (1007 km)Distance: Paris-Baku 3,818 kmGross Domestic Product (GDP): 57 billion euros (2013)Actual growth in GDP: + 2.2 % (2012), + 6 % (2013)Actual growth in GDP in the non-energy sector: + 9.7 % (2012),+ 10 % (2013)GDP per capita: 6,132 euros (2013)Level of poverty: 5,3 % (2013)Sources: National statistics, IMF,World Bank

Map of theRepublic ofAzerbaijan

Walls of thefortress of the OldCity (ri hr)in Baku

ment has followed since 1993consolidated the countrys econo-mic and political foundations anddeveloped national economy, wherewe have seen considerable accelera-tion in the GDP growth, whichachieved a global record of 34.6%in 2006. These years were also mar-ked by the completion or commen-cement of large-scale regional andintra-regional projects initiated byAzerbaijan and linked to energy andcommunication, such as: Baku-Tbi-lisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline,Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas exportpipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail-way line, unanimously consideredto be one of the biggest civil engi-neering projects of the last decadesto be realized in this part of theworld.

Which three majorachievements of yourcountry you can list duringlast two-three years?First of all, I would like to highlightthat Azerbaijan is becoming one ofthe worlds leading gas producers.Our proven gas potential is estima-ted at nearly three trillion cubicmeters of gas and condensates.

During the last two years followingto its oil and gas strategy, Azerbai-jan has initiated two important pro-jects, namely, Trans Anatolian Natu-ral Gas Pipeline (TANAP) andTrans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) pro-jects which are soon will become areality.

I am particularly pleased that suc-cessful energy collaboration betweenState Oil Company of Azerbaijan(SOCAR) and leading companiesof oil and gas industry of France,TOTAL and GDF-SUEZ success-fully continues nowadays in theAzerbaijani sector of the CaspianSea, and, inter alia, will contributeto strengthened energy security ofAzerbaijan but also of the wholeEuropean continent.

As a second achievement I can men-tioned the fact that last year Azer-baijan has joined the so-called

"space club", when on 7 February2013 first Azerbaijani telecommu-nications satellite Azerspace-1 waslaunched and realized by the Azer-baijani space agency Azercosmos incooperation with the French Aria-nespace from the put into orbitfrom the Kourou Space Centre inFrench Guyana. I do believe thatthis important event has ushered ina new era in the development ofscience and technology in Azerbai-jan and has also opened a new chap-ter in the history of bilateral inter-action between Azerbaijan andFrance having revealed an impres-sive potential in this new field forthe years to come.

As a third success, I should mentionthe first-ever election of Azerbaijanin 2011 as a non-permanent mem-

ber of the UN Security Council.This brilliant diplomatic victory is alogical outcome of the painstakingand goal-oriented work by Azerbai-jan since the restoration of its inde-pendence, testifying about the gro-wing importance and influence ofour country at the internationalarena.

What is the economicsituation in Azerbaijantoday?Azerbaijan is well-known in theworld for its hydrocarbon naturalresources. It is a fact of life that ourcountry was the driving forcebehind the industrial exploitationof oil and gas and its offshore extrac-tion in the Caspian Sea.

Today, as I mentioned above,besides using its natural wealth tostrengthen its economy and conso-lidate its independence, Azerbaijanhas become one the reliable strategicpartners of Europe in an effort tostrengthen the continent's energysecurity through ensuring an alter-native source of natural gas and oilto a number of member-states of theEuropean Union.

In an effort to diversify its dynami-cally developing economy, the stateis investing a lot into the develop-ment of the non-energy sector of itseconomy, having become one of therapidly developing states in EasternEurope.

Azerbaijan has developed uninter-ruptedly over the last ten years. The

information below shows this expli-citly. GDP has been multiplied by3.4 times; non-energy GDP by 2.7times; GDP per capita by 8.4 times;external trade by 6.4 times; and thestate budget by 19 times.

Nearly 130 billion euros have beeninvested in the national economyover the last twenty years. In 2013,GDP rose by 6% and reached 57billion ; GDP per capita by 4.4%(6,132); the non-energy sector by9.8%; agriculture by approximately5%. Inflation has been kept downto 2.4%. Investments in the natio-nal economy have reached 21 bil-lion, including 13 billion throughdomestic investments. For severalyears, the domestic investments have


Azerbaijan has becomebetter-known in France inrecent years, especially inthe business world. Howwould you describe yourcountry for our readers?Situated in the South Caucasus, onthe ancient Silk Road, the Republicof Azerbaijan, with its 86,600square kilometres and 9.4 millioninhabitants is a strategic crossroadsbetween the East and the West.Since time immemorial it has beenone of the cradles of human civili-zation, as can be seen from themany prehistoric sites, over 400,000years old. The first nation statesemerged here during the third mil-lennium BC.

Azerbaijans roots go far deeper thanits underground hydrocarbonwealth, and its cultural heritage isinfinitely richer and more variedthan its oil and gas reserves.

We are proud of the fact that thetheatre, opera and ballet were inven-ted for the first time in the wholeEast in Azerbaijan. We are alsoproud that secular and democraticstate, Democratic Republic of Azer-baijan, was also created in our coun-try back on 28 May 1918 for thefirst time in the East. The break-upof the USSR in 1991 gave Azerbai-jan a unique opportunity to restoreits independence. Since then, ourcountry has covered an impressiveroad of transformation towardsstrengthening its statehood andsovereignty.

Can you tell us briefly aboutthe main economicchallenges and also otherdifficulties that yourcountry has faced during

the last 23 years since yourindependence was restoredin 1991?The period that has passed since therestoration of independence can bedivided into two separate parts: thefirst few years and the twenty yearsthat followed.

Sadly, the first few years of inde-pendence were particularly difficultfor the new government of theRepublic of Azerbaijan. The countrywas heading toward a precipice,mainly as a result of the unprece-dented economic crisis but also dueto persistent political instability,which was accompanied by theoccupation by the armed forces ofneighbouring Armenia of almostone-fifth of the internationally reco-gnized territory of Azerbaijan, inclu-ding the Nagorno-Karabakh and 7surrounding regions.

Despite the efforts of the interna-tional community, unanimousadoption by the United NationsSecurity Council 4 resolutions,demanding the immediate andunconditional evacuation by Arme-nia of the occupied Nagorno-Kara-bakh and surrounding 7 regions ofAzerbaijan, several resolutions of theUnited Nations General Assemblyand other relevant internationalorganizations, as well as efforts of

the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chai-red jointly by France, the UnitedStates and Russia, mandated tocontribute to find peaceful resolu-tion of the conflict between Arme-nia and Azerbaijan, Armenia hascontinued for more than twentyyears to illegally occupy the terri-tory of Azerbaijan having commit-ted ethnic cleansing in those areasas a result of which all Azerbaijanishad been ousted from their nativelands.

Another consequence of this occu-pation is that every ninth citizen ofAzerbaijan has become either a refu-gee or an internally displaced per-son (IDP) in its own country. Todaythis group made up of almost onemillion of IDPs and refugees arescattered throughout Azerbaijanwith one dream to be able to returnto their native homes.I speak about this Armenian occu-pation of Azerbaijani territories inyour economic review to attractattention to its damaging effect tothe Azerbaijani economy and to theregional economic cooperation.

As for the second part of your ques-tion, I believe that the main chal-lenges for Azerbaijan during theperiod you mentioned were diffi-culties to achieve socio-economicstability and economic indepen-dence. And due to visionary andefficient development strategy, todayAzerbaijan became an island of sta-bility with independent, diversifiedand most developed economy in thewhole region, and pursuing its sove-reign foreign policy in line with itsnational interests.

The development strategy andpolicy that the Azerbaijani govern-

Azerbaijan and France have constructivepolitical dialogue at the highest level

H.E. Mr. Elchin Amirbayov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiaryof the Republic of Azerbaijan in France



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President Mr.Franois Hollande,President Mr.Ilham Aliyev andMadame MehribanAliyeva, the FirstLady of theRepublic ofAzerbaijan at theinauguration of theDepartment ofIslamic Arts of theMuseum of Louvreon 18 September2012

themselves there by way of decep-tion or provocation by the Arme-nian side, which tries by every pos-sible means to consolidate theconsequences of its military aggres-sion against Azerbaijan but, as thefacts on the ground testify, have notreached much in their illegal andinefficient policies so far. So, I callupon all French citizens to be vigi-lant and not to let themselves bedeceived, since all the visits to thoseoccupied territories without theconsent the Azerbaijani authoritiesare considered as gross violation theAzerbaijani Law and are in blatantviolation of principles and norms ofthe international law, in particularof the territorial integrity and sove-reignty of the Republic of Azerbai-jan.

In conclusion, I would like to returnto bilateral cooperation betweenAzerbaijan and France. I am plea-sed to invite French entrepreneurs,investors and tourists to travel toAzerbaijan and follow the touristroute known as Alexandre Dumasin the Caucasus, which will takethem to our beautiful lands situa-ted on the ancient Silk Road, at thecrossroads of the East and the West,where representatives of various eth-nic groups and religions have alwayslived together in an exemplary spiritof tolerance and harmony. Azerbai-jan has given birth of the firstDemocratic Republic in the wholeOrient and also completely uniquemusical genre, the Mugham, withits contemporary versions, such asJazz-Mugham and SymphonicMugham. You will certainly fall inlove with the Land of Fire, withits very rich cultural, culinarian and

musical traditions. And finally, Azer-baijan is also land of sport and ispreparing to host the First EuropeanGames in June of 2015. We expectto welcome nearly 15,000 athletesfrom 49 European countries duringthose games.

Which advices would yougive to French companiesand particularly to smalland medium companies(SMEs) to do business inAzerbaijan?I would like to underline that mostof French companies express theirinterests to take part in realizationof infrastructural projects and toexport their products to Azerbaijan.In this line, I would advise themalso consider seriously long-termand sustainable business activities innon-energy sector as done by otherEuropean companies. All Frenchcompanies could make this long-term business alone, jointly withlocal partners, or through the Azer-baijani Investment Company (AIC)which financially supports biginvestment projects.

Each year, we organize a number oftrade fairs and international exhibi-tions in most sectors of the eco-nomy, and French companies par-ticipation in such events could opennew business opportunities forthem in Azerbaijan and contributeto further development of our bila-teral economic cooperation. For ins-tance, since 2011, several Frenchcompanies have taken part in theinternational exhibition on infor-mation and communication tech-nologies (ICT) Bakutel, which isthe biggest ICT exhibition of the

regions of Caucasus and CentralAsia. And participation and coope-ration in this sector is already begin-ning to bring important results.

We organize also each year the inter-national vine and wine festivals inGanja and France participated withimportant delegations with theguest of honour status during thefestivals in 2012 an 2013. Andusing this opportunity, I would liketo invite other French companies todiscover this exciting event.

I equally encourage French compa-nies to join to the France-Azerbai-jan Chamber of Commerce(CCFAz) in Paris, which works topromote cooperation between com-panies of our countries, especiallySMEs in the non-energy sector. TheCCFAz is going through the periodof transformation with the goal tofocus on helping companies of bothcountries in doing business in bothAzerbaijan and in France, and infor-ming members about economicopportunities, projects and eventsin Azerbaijan.

Finally, I wish to highlight that thebusiness climate created by ourgovernment in Azerbaijan is parti-cularly attractive to foreign busi-nessmen. And Azerbaijani entrepre-neurs have sufficient capitalsallowing them to work with theirforeign counterparts and big invest-ment projects are supported by theGovernment through AIC. So, withtheir know-how and new technolo-gies, French companies can take partin investment and development pro-jects in Azerbaijan without necessa-rily using huge financial resources.


exceeded foreign investment whicha welcome trend for Azerbaijani eco-nomy.

The foreign currency reserves ofAzerbaijan constitute today morethan 36 billion , which is equiva-lent to 70% of the GDP and 12times the countrys external debt.Last year, the unemployment ratefell by 5 %, while the level ofpoverty fell by 5.3 %. Our externaldebt represents 8% of the GDP,which is one of the best ratios on aglobal scale. All this has obviouslyhad a positive impact on creation ofjobs in Azerbaijan (110,000 newjobs in the last several years, 80,000of which are permanent contracts).

This successful socio-economicpolicy has had a positive effect inreducing the level of poverty, whichhas fallen from 49% in 2000 to5.3% in 2013. At the same time,the continuing increase in salariesand pensions has led to citizensincomes being multiplied by the fac-tor of 6. This performance has beenunanimously appreciated by therelevant international institutions.The GNP per capita index has allo-wed the World Bank to rank Azer-baijan in the category of upper-middle income countries. Finally,the United Nations, in one of itsreports on the Development Pro-gramme, included Azerbaijan in thegroup of states with superiorhuman development.

What can you tell us abouteconomic relations betweenAzerbaijan and France?

Are there any problems?We have constructive political dia-logue between two countries at thehighest level. At their last two mee-tings in 2012 and 2013, the twoPresidents, Ilham Aliyev and Fran-ois Hollande, agreed on the neces-sity to further develop existing excel-lent bilateral cooperation. Theeconomic teams of our two coun-tries Embassies are working in closecoordination to increase trade andmutually advantageous economiccooperation. On 26 November2013 seventh session of the BilateralAzerbaijani-French Economic Com-mission was held in Baku, co-chai-red by Mr Samir Sharifov, Ministerof Finance of Azerbaijan and Mrs.Nicole Bricq, Minister for ForeignTrade of France.

Today, Azerbaijani economyaccounts for nearly 80% of the ove-rall GDP of the three countries ofthe South Caucasus and Azerbaijanis leading economic and tradingpartner of France in the wholeregion. And France is among Azer-baijan's leading trading partners.

There exists an important potentialin the development of decentralisedbilateral economic cooperation,involving various regions of twocountries. I believe that there aresectors of the Azerbaijani economythat are extremely promising forFrench entrepreneurs and investors,where new opportunities can becreated. In this regard, industrialsector; mechanical construction;production of vehicles and locomo-tives, underground trains or their

components; the setting-up of agro-industry installations; the develop-ment of the wine industry; theapplication of renewable energysolutions; the development of thetourist infrastructure, the informa-tion and communication technolo-gies sectors, and many other promi-sing fields could be particularlymentioned.

I am pleased to say that there are nomajor problems in our bilateral eco-nomic and trading cooperation.The reason to that, in my view, liesin the fact that mutual respect andmutual interests form the strongfoundation of these relations. Bothsides believe that existing opportu-nities, favourable climate for invest-ments, unfulfilled potential formutual economic interaction createa "win-win" situation for both Azer-baijan and France and the ever-increasing figures of trade exchangeare another proof for the above-mentioned.

Having said this, I would voice outa strong recommendation for thoseFrench entrepreneurs who want todo business in Azerbaijan to refrainfrom any imprudent actions thatmay lead to major difficulties fortheir plans to work in our country.By this I mean first and foremost torefrain from any illegal visits or acti-vities in the territories of Azerbaijanthat are currently out of control ofcentral Azerbaijani authorities andillegally occupied by neighbouringArmenia. In most of the cases,foreign businessmen and touristswho end up in those territories find



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Bilateral meeting ofMr. Ilham Aliyev,President of the

Republic ofAzerbaijan and Mr.Franois Hollande,President of Franceat the lyse Palaceon 18 September

2012

Mr. Ilham Aliyev,President of theRepublic ofAzerbaijan hasparticipated at theworking breakfastwith Frenchcompaniesorganized byMEDEF on 19September 2012 inParis

How do you assess thecurrent state of bilateraleconomic cooperationbetween Azerbaijan andFrance?First of all, I would say that thiscooperation is dynamic. Azerbaijanis our first biggest trading partnerin the region of South Caucasus(trade turnover constituted 1.9 bil-lion in 2012). The authorities ofAzerbaijan have commenced to rea-lize ambitious infrastructure moder-nization projects in its capital andother cities where French compa-nies are seeking to be presented.And I am convinced that our eco-nomic cooperation could be furtherreinforced, diversified and partiallyre-balanced. With my services(General Directory of the Treasury,Ubifrance), the French regions andthe Chambers of Commerce andIndustries (CCIs), I wish to supportFrench companies in these endea-vours.

Which sectors arepromising for Frenchcompanies, and especiallyfor SMEs?France is already presented in anumber of sectors in Azerbaijan;and I wish to consolidate our posi-tion and also to get presented inother sectors.In hydrocarbons sector, our compa-nies Total and GDF Suez play animportant role in the context oftheir joint activities with SOCAR.In aerospace sector, Arianespace haslaunched the first telecommunica-tions satellite project of Azerbaijanand French industry is keen toaccompany this country in its pro-grams for development of highinformation and communicationtechnologies. And finally, in theenvironmental sector, CNIM has

installed a waste management plantin Baku aimed also to produce elec-tricity. These projects were realizedin the framework of our industrialpartnership.Concerning our SMEs, they are stillvery weak presented in Azerbaijan.In this regard, several visits will beorganized jointly with Ubifranceand economic service of ourEmbassy in Azerbaijan.

Which initiatives are youconsider to reinforcebusiness relations betweenthe two countries and topromote flow of Frenchcompanies to Azerbaijan?First of all, the Joint Azerbaijani-French Economic CooperationCommission is essential instrument.It permits us to address actual issuesof our development agenda and dis-cuss new fields of cooperation. The7th meeting of this Commissionwas organized at the end of last yearin Baku.Regarding new cooperation fields Iwish to concentrate on two sectors.First of all, I would like to makeaccent to the family products andservices project the better life in thecity. Modernization of cities, thedevelopment of ecologically cleantransport systems (metro in Baku,and tramways in Baku and inGanja), realization of waste mana-gement projects (case of CNIM pro-

ject), and development of quality ofwater and air is one of major priori-ties of Azerbaijan. And in these sec-tors, commencing from architectureand industrial production to engi-neering services, France is the worldleader. And I wish officially tolaunch VIVAPOLIS project aimedto collect all these services in onebasket for presenting them at theinternational vitrines. This brandbrings together all French actors ofthe sustainable city and allows com-panies to present their services inthe group form at the internationalmarkets and trade fairs, aimed toensure their successful export deve-lopment.The second sector is big sportiveevents. In this regard, I wish tocontinue efforts of the economicservice of our Embassy in Azerbaijanorganized last year on 25 Septem-ber relevant Seminar in Baku.France has been recognized as acountry with richest experience onorganization of big international

sportive events (French companieshave significantly contributed to thelast Olympic Games in London),which could also be shared withAzerbaijan for the organization ofthe First European Games in Bakuin 2015. We have also organized amajor event (International meetingof major sportive events) in Paris on8 November of the last year whereAzerbaijan was invited.

Bilateral relations could further bereinforcedNicole Bricq, Minister of Foreign TradeCo-Chairman of the Joint Azerbaijani-French Economic Cooperation Commission


How do you assess thecurrent state of bilateraleconomic relations betweenAzerbaijan and France?Azerbaijan and France currentlyenjoy a high level of cooperation inthe political, economic, and huma-nitarian fields. The working visit toFrance by Azerbaijans President Mr.Ilham Aliyev in September last yearand the meeting with his Frenchcounterpart, President Franois Hol-lande, have created additional condi-tions to further enhance and stream-line the existing degree ofcooperation between the two coun-tries. The development of economiccooperation between our countriesis currently taking place at an unpre-cedented pace.In recent years, the volume of tradebetween the two countries has risento nearly 2 billion euros. Building onthat dynamism in bilateral economicpartnership, the Azerbaijani-French

Joint Economic Cooperation Com-mission sought to make a significantcontribution towards reinforcing thismutually beneficial cooperation. TheCommissions 7th meeting, held lastNovember in Baku, led to drawingup of a new set of targets for thefuture strategy.Economic cooperation between thetwo countries is constantly develo-ping and the momentum that is builtup every year is taking this coopera-

tion into new sectors. This can beseen in the fact that the Governmentof the Republic of Azerbaijan, alongwith certain state organizations, hasrecently signed contracts with Frenchcompanies such as Eurocopter, Air-bus SAS, Camiva, Systra, Arianes-pace, and many others. Thosecontracts value creation for our bila-teral dialogue is now worth a total of1.2 billion dollars.The French oil companyTOTAL hasalways been closely involved in Azer-baijans major oil and gas projects.On 7 February 2013, Azerbaijansfirst telecommunications satellite,known as Azerspace-1, was launchedand put into orbit by Arianespacefrom the Kourou Space Centre in theFrench Guyana. The French banks,BNP Paribas and Socit Gnrale,have traditionally played an activerole in financing major infrastructureprojects in Azerbaijan. I point out allthis in order to showcase an existinghigh and stable degree of macro-poli-tical, macro-economic, and businessclimate particularly favourable to awide range of trade and investmentopportunities. Undoubtedly, this cli-mate has also been created for theFrench companies in Azerbaijan.This trajectory of partnership will bemaintained in the future.What is your assessment of the7thmeeting of the bilateraleconomic cooperation

commission organized lastNovember in Azerbaijan?The 7th meeting of the Azerbaijani-French Joint Economic CooperationCommission, organized in Baku on26 November 2013, was a goodopportunity to discuss the currentstate of play in the cooperationagenda, as well as to further explorethe prospects for boosting the levelof cooperation between the twocountries. We talked to our Frenchcolleagues about the issues linked toreinforcing our mutually beneficialbilateral cooperation, including thefuture development of commercialrelations, infrastructure projects,opportunities in civil aviation and airtraffic routes, railway infrastructure,urban and road transport, space andtelecommunications technology, andfinancial cooperation.We also talkedabout organizing conferences, semi-nars, business forums, exhibitionsand shows linked to trade and invest-ment opportunities. Out last mee-ting also discussed ways of extendingour cooperation further into othersectors.What would you like to seeregarding the developmentof bilateral economic andcommercial relations andwhat is your key message toFrench companies?I think that the business circles fromboth countries need to cooperatestronger and make every effort toboost trade turnover between Azer-baijan and France by an annualincrease of 10-15%. My key messageto the French companies is to saythat the Republic of Azerbaijan is areliable, stable partner and thatthrough our cooperation everyFrench company should look for-ward to achieving its commercialobjectives in our country.

The Republic of Azerbaijan is a reliable,stable partnerSamir Sharifov, Minister of Finance for the Republic of Azerbaijan,Co-Chairman of the Joint Azerbaijani-French Economic CooperationCommission


LE MOCI COMMUNICATION

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Press-conferenceafter the 7th

meeting of theJoint Azerbaijani-French Economic

CooperationCommission

organized in Bakuon 26 November

2013

Madame NicoleBricq studies theBaku White cityproject, on 25November 2013

Azerbaijan is a strategic country for Systra

Did you sign any contract inAzerbaijan?Our interest for Azerbaijan started manyyears ago as it is a country with high expan-sion rate and which is concerned about thedevelopment of its transport infrastructurefor the well-being of its citizens. The excel-lent relations with economic stakeholdersin the transport sector gave us the oppor-tunity to offer Systras expertise and it waswelcomed. Our official involvement takesplace at the Administration level of BakuMetropolitan, after we were awarded aninternational tender to study the network.It was followed by other contracts forvarious services such as:- The Master Plan for the development ofthe network (three new lines - Purple, Blueand Yellow - and extensions of the two exis-ting lines - Red and Green). The Presidentof the Republic of Azerbaijan has appro-

ved these choices in November 2010 andrequested the implementation of this planwithin the broader framework of a large-scale urban development program in thecapital city;- Detailed design of the Purple line;- Detailed design of the Blue line;-The supervision of the constructionworks of the 1st section of the Purple line,the reshaping of the 28 May Station.How do you foresee the future ofyour relationship with thiscountry? What are your plans?Azerbaijan is a strategic country for Sys-tra, which opened a branch in Baku in2011 and has hired a team of local engi-neers.Several other projects are studied by theAzerbaijani authorities, in which SYSTRAwishes to promote its expertise and itslarge number of references:

- Railways moderniza-tion;- The challenges rela-ted to the moderniza-tion of urban trans-port in Baku withinthe broader frameworkof the Absheronpeninsula;- The development of urban transport inother major cities of Azerbaijan - especiallyin Ganja, where SYSTRA realized for thelocal authorities the preliminary studiesfor the re-introduction of the tramway.We already suggested other infrastructuredevelopment projects to the authorities.Thanks to the confidence of the localauthorities, partners and clients, we hopeto remain for a long time the reference inthis country which is a great friend ofFrance.

Andr Ohnheiser, Senior ExecutiveVice-President for the Region of Southern Europe & Mediterranean

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badjan), in order to answer and tomatch as well as possible the hugedemand for lessons of French lan-guage that exists in Azerbaijan.Among other innovations, we haveset up specialized French courses forinterested companies. Interest forFrance, its culture, its education andmodel of society is high in Azerbaijanand represents an strong asset for thedevelopment of our bilateral rela-tions, that is why promoting it, notonly in Baku but also - and proba-bly even more so in the regions -, iscurrently one of our main goals.

What are the priorities ofyour Embassy, and mainly ineconomic sector?As I mentioned, promoting and sup-porting investment projects ofFrench companies in Azerbaijan isone of my top priorities. France has alot to offer in terms of expertise inmany interesting fields for Azerbai-jan. My job consists both in identi-fying those fields where France canmake valuable proposals and in faci-litating the contacts between Frenchcompanies and Azerbaijani actors. In

this regard, French Embassy hasorganized in 2013 two businessforums in the areas of civil defenceand management of sports events. Itis premature to track the record ofthe results but both of them werevery much appreciated by partici-pants and I am confident that thiskind of initiative will is instrumen-tal in the development of new co-operations. We plan to organize inthe near future business forums dedi-cated to the living sustainably in thecity, a motto which encompasses allfields of improvement in the qualityof life in a sustainable way. Azeri-French-Turkish co-operation on theAzerbaijani market and a third onededicated to maritime safety andsecurity.In order to assist the French smalland medium-sized enterprises intheir approach to the Azerbaijanimarket, we will open in Baku anoffice of the Franco-AzerbaijaniChamber of Commerce. I hope thisorganization will become fully ope-rational in the coming months.And I invite French and Azerbai-jani companies, which want to suc-

cessfully address toge-ther the fast growingAzerbaijani market tojoin this Chamber.In my opinion, thedevelopment of inten-sified and diversifiedtrade relationshipscannot be separatedfrom a long-term co-operation inthe field of education. Capacity ofFrance in promoting its educationmodel, notably by developing twin-ning between universities and scho-larships will have a direct impact onour economic ambitions in Azer-baijan. Business is made by men,and men are a product of education.That is why we have to work simul-taneously in both areas and that isthe challenge I have to take up. Thesuccess of the first Franco-Azerbai-jani Universities Forum organizedin Baku on the 14th of June is a realencouragement to strengthen ourefforts in this field. The opening onthe 24th of September of a CampusFrance space within the French Ins-titute of Azerbaijan is a concreteexample of our commitment.


How could you assess therole of Azerbaijan in theCaucasus?Azerbaijan plays an important rolein the Caucasus for various reasons.First, Azerbaijan is the only Muslim,but secular country of this region,and as such, acts as an essentialbridge and mediator between Chris-tian Eastern Europe and MuslimCentral Asia or Iran. This is a geo-political situation Azerbaijani govern-ment is promoting and I think this isindeed an aspect thatWestern coun-tries should keep in mind when itcomes to relations with this country.Second, Azerbaijan represents nearly80% of the whole Caucasian GDPand should, in the near future, turnitself into the driving force of theregional economic growth. Rightnow, Nagorno-Karabakh conflictremains the main obstacle to thisdevelopment andthat is why resol-ving it is now socrucial: Azerbai-jani people andmany people inthe region, firstof all Armeniaand Georgia,have essentialgains to win in a peaceful resolutionof this conflict which has caused somany human and material damagesfor 20 years now. And last, Azerbai-jan has become one of the mainenergy suppliers in the region: it isimportant for European energy sup-ply stability, it is important for thegeostrategic balance of this part ofthe world.

What is the state of play onbilateral relations betweenAzerbaijan and France?

As you may know, France was, in1992, the second country to reco-gnize the independence of Azerbai-jan after Turkey did. Heydar Aliyevpaid his first visit abroad to France, asPresident Aliyev did when he waselected in 2003: this sign of mutualtrust and friendship prevailing bet-ween our two countries is now beingprolonged by an important, growingand diversifying cooperation. In theeconomic field, French companyTOTAL is one of the stakeholders of

Shah Deniz IIgas field with10% participa-tion and waschosen as opera-tor of Absherongas condensatefield, which is asignificant achie-vement for the

participation of France in the oil andgas sector development of this coun-try. In the non-oil sector, Frenchcompanies are competing to promotetheir expertise in sectors that are atthe core of the diversification policyled by Azerbaijani Authorities: lastFebruary, the first Azerbaijani tele-communications satellite has beenlaunched from the French spacelaunching site in Kourou (Frenchoverseas Department of Guyana).This event is a major achievementfor Azerbaijan and has paved the way

for a long-term cooperation betweenFrench companies, Azercosmos andthe Azerbaijani government in thefield of space technologies. Other sec-tors, such as transportation, envi-ronment or agriculture, also offerpromising fields of investment forFrench companies. As far as agricul-ture is concerned, the meetings heldby M. Dominique Garot, FrenchMinister in charge of food, who paida visit to Azerbaijan at the end ofJanuary have clearly pointed out thehuge potential of cooperation in thisfield.Political relations have followed thegrowth of mutual economic interestbetween our two countries. Follo-wing President Sarkozy visit to Azer-baijan in October 2011, PresidentAliyev paid a visit to Paris in Sep-tember 2012 andMinister of ForeignAffairs Elmar Mammadyarov met hisFrench counterpart Laurent Fabiustwice in Paris in 2012 and 2013. Ontop of that, in its capacity of MinskGroup co-chair, France organizedseveral meetings in Paris based onnew initiatives for the resolution ofNagorno-Karabakh conflict.In the sphere of education, a far rea-ching step was made by the recentopening of the French Lyce in Baku,whose project had been agreedduring President Aliyevs visit toFrance in December 2009. In Sep-tember 2013, we have opened severalteaching levels for children aged from3 to 13, in temporary premises untilour own building is completed. Thisopening is important, both for thepromotion of French language andmodel of education and for develop-ment of our economic relations. Inthis same area, we have reviewed andmodernized our French Institute ofAzerbaijan (Institut franais dAzer-

Support of projects of French companiesin Azerbaijan is one of mytop prioritiesH.E. Mr. Pascal Meunier, Extraordinairy and Plenipotentiairy Ambassadorof France in the Republic of Azerbaijan



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State PhilarmonicHall of Azerbaijan,

Baku

Metro station inBaku after the

name ofAzerbaijani great

poet andphilosopher of XIIcentury, Nizami

GANJAVI

How do you assessAzerbaijans economic andsocial development over thelast twenty years?

Since restoration of its indepen-dence, Azerbaijan continued todevelop and positioned itself as astrategic crossroad.During last 20 years, we indeedobserved that this country hasdemonstrated its ability efficientlyto use its economic and politicalassets to promote its national inte-rests and strengthen its position atthe global and regional levels, as wellas openness for Europe and the restof the world to tackle various coope-ration opportunities. Azerbaijan hasalso made strong efforts to grow theliving standards of its population.

Today, we observe that this Cauca-sian state address a number of eco-nomic, institutional, educational,social and cultural challenges, andwe can only encourage continuationof these efforts and good dynamism.

In addition to diversification andmodernization of its economy, it hasalso to continue social and demo-cratic reforms to ensure social cohe-sion to address actual and futuresustainable development and envi-ronmental challenges.

Why do you think thatFrench companies shouldinvest to this country?Azerbaijan has significant and unde-niable advantages. Apart from itseconomic growth and continuously

improving living standards, it conti-nues to do efforts for further ope-ning of its economy, invests in theinformation and communicationtechnologies, develops broadbandinternet infrastructures, and com-panies that are implanted in thiscountry benefit by favorable legalenvironment.Azerbaijan is also a rapidly develo-ping its transport infrastructure sys-tems, including rail, road, air and

maritime infrastructures, etc. Andthere are real opportunities forforeign, and particularly for Frenchcompanies to take part in a numberof large-scale projects. Moreover,great opportunities will exist in rea-lization of infrastructure projects inthe agro-industry, environment andtourism sectors for the years tocome.

Finally, France is a major economicpartner of Azerbaijan, and compa-nies as Alcatel Lucent, Total, Thalesand a number of SMEs are alreadywell installed there. Azerbaijan hasalso realized that French companieshave strong know-how and expe-rience. Thus I am strongly convin-ced that Azerbaijan will further wel-come our companies and will offerthem best possible economic andsocial conditions.

Azerbaijan is a strategic country with rapidlygrowing economyJean-Marie Bockel, Senator Upper-Rhin province of the region of Alsace,President of the Agglomeration of Mulhouse, former Minister


Could you present what isSOCAR and what are theactivities of the company?What are the maininvestment projects ofSOCAR in Azerbaijan andin the abroad?

SOCAR is the largest verticallyintegrated company in Azerbaijanwith 66 thousand employees whichforms major part of countrys GDP.SOCAR is one of the largest 100%state owned oil and gas companiesin the world. SOCAR is involvedin all aspects of oil and gas produc-tion from onshore and offshoreexploration and development inAzerbaijan and abroad to transpor-tation, oil and gas processing, petro-leum chemistry and retail in Azer-baijan and in the region of theCaspian Sea, Europe and Asia.Today forecasted reserves of hydro-carbons in Azerbaijan are estimatedat the level of 10 billion tons, withproven oil reserves of more thantwo billion tons. To date, thevolume of investment in the Part-nership Sharing Agreement (PSA)type contracts in Azerbaijanamounted to 50 billion of US dol-lars. Reserves of only "Azeri-Chi-rag-Guneshli" (ACG) field are esti-mated at 1 billion 200 million tonsof oil and 350 billion cubic metersof gas.SOCAR participates and representthe state in more than 17 ongoingPSAs with foreign companies, 36joint ventures and 5 alliances withmajor service companies. Of course,it includes Total and GDF Suezwhich participate in the develop-ment of certain fields (Shah Denizand Absheron).GDF Suez also concluded a majorcontract on purchase of Azerbaijanigas from Shah Deniz field trans-ported through the TAP gas pipe-

line. French companies Nexans,Technip and Schulmberger partici-pated in the major energy projectsin Azerbaijan. Besides, SOCARcooperating with French banks suchas Societe Generale and BNP Pari-bas.

What are the data of last 3-4 years of export of Azerbai-jani oil and gas to Frenchmarket? Do you think theseflows could increase?

France is considered as an impor-tant export market for SOCARsenergy resources. It is one of themain consumers of Azerbaijani oil.Currently 8-10% of crude oilvolumes provided to the world mar-kets by SOCAR is exported toFrance. Thus, French market is inthe second place after Italy in termsof consumption of the volume pro-vided by SOCAR in Europe.13 million tons of crude oil hasbeen exported by SOCAR toFrance since 2010 up to date. In itsturn, SOCARs share of crude oilexport in the total volume of crudeoil consumption in France isapproximately 3.7%.SOCAR traditionally widely coope-rates with French companies in thesphere of crude oil and oil products

trade. This cooperation has wide-ned and diversified followingSOCARs incorporation of its tra-ding arm SOCAR Trading SA inGeneva, Switzerland.SOCAR has supplied more than 12million tons of crude oil to Totalsince 2010 up to date. This quan-tity does not include only crude oilof Azerbaijan origin, but also crudeoils of other origins obtained bySOCAR in the world market. Totalalso displays interest to oil productsexported by SOCAR. In 2010SOCAR supplied Total 320 thou-sand tons of diesel fuel.It should be noted that cooperationbetween SOCAR and Total in thesphere of crude oil supply and tradeis mutual. SOCAR itself from timeto time purchases oil batches fromTotal if necessary. Thus, since 2010till now SOCAR Trading SA haspurchased about 1 million tons ofcrude oil from Total.

SOCAR has invested a lotto neighboring countries asTurkey, Georgia andUkraine, as well as toRomania, Switzerland,Austria, Germany, Greece,etc. As you know, France isone of major economies ofEurope and could you alsoconsider investment bySOCAR in the Frencheconomy in the comingyears?

Yes, we are the biggest investor inTurkey and Georgia and do a lot inRomania and Ukraine and in othercountries. Certainly, we are interes-ted to invest to French economyand carefully studying opportuni-ties for entering your market. Thereis nothing for now to declare as aready transaction, however I hopethat such opportunity will appear.

We are certainly interested to invest toFrench economyRovnag Abdullayev, President of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR)



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Baku city centre

Pipeline geopolitics strategic talks on gas andoil pipelines routes is adifficult subject. What doyou think are the assets ofTAP and Azerbaijanihydrocarbons generallyspeaking to the French andEuropean end-consumers?

Indeed, to export the gas from thehuge gas field of Shah Deniz (860square kilometres, 1,200 billioncubic meters of gas), Azerbaijanchose the Trans-Adriatic pipeline(TAP) over Nabucco West (TAPwill be held jointly by several oilcompanies: 50 per cent jointly byAxpo (Switzerland), Statoil (Nor-way), E.ON Ruhrgas (Germany);20 per cent each by SOCAR (Azer-baijan) and BP (UK), and 10 percent by Total (France)). The ShahDeniz II Consortium which ope-rates the gas deposit has justannounced the signing of supplyagreements with nine Europeancompanies, including GDF Suez.TAP being 440 kilometres shorterthan Nabucco West (which wassupported by the European Com-mission), this should benefit theend consumer. The pipeline willtransport natural gas from the Tur-kish-Greer border and cross Greeceand Albania before coming ashorein Italy.

What is at stake exactly?

Some explain this selection as a set-back for the Commission, and moregenerally for Europe. Let us put this

into perspective. The strategicconcern of the European Union isfirst of all to limit its dependenceon Russia, which did not hesitate toturn off the taps in 2009. Amongthe alternative sources of supply, gasfrom Azerbaijan and Turkmenistanrouted through the Southern Cor-ridor and bypassing Russia twoproposed routes for many years were the preferred options. In thatrespect, the EUs main objective,which is the diversification ofsources of gas supply, has been rea-ched. Both projects offered similarcapacities within similar deadlines.Moreover, Jos Manuel Barroso wel-comed and supported the choice ofTAP in a somewhat opportunisticpress release which recalled his mee-ting with President Aliyev inJanuary 2011.

What were the weaknessesof the Nabucco project?

Nabucco has suffered two core

weaknesses from day one:

On the one hand, in order to bypassthe Russian company Gazprom,Nabuccos plan was to import Cas-pian gas (Azerbaijan) and gas fromCentral Asia (Turkmenistan), andeven Iraqi Kurdistan or Iran. Theproblem is that the flow would havebeen insufficient without Tehran.On the other hand, the project wasnot endorsed by any of the leadingEuropean gas companies, nor by aproducing country only by consu-mers, and the plan was also to servethe whole of Central Europe. Theseconditions made it hard to securethe gas volumes to be delivered.After repeated rejections, NabuccoGas Pipeline International revisedits ambitions downwards, shorte-ning its route from 3,300 to 1,300kiometres. Nabucco West was sup-posed to link the Turkish-Bulgarianborder and Austria through the Bal-kans. This was a questionable pro-ject which no one will regret.

In practical terms, how willTAP and the Azerbaijanscommitment to Europeaneconomy?

TAP is a valuable help to the wea-kest link in Europe: Greece, whichshould benefit from 1 to 2 billioneuros of direct investment duringthe construction of the pipeline,which will take place from 2014 to2018: 2,000 to 3,000 new jobs willbe created and 67 per cent of theGreek energy transport networkDEFSA will be bought by the State

Western European countries should benefitthe doubling of TAPs capacities on thelong run

Christophe-Andre Frassa, Senator of UMP representing the French livingabroad, Secretary of the Inter-parliamentary France-Caucasus friendship groupand a member of the group of study on energy in the French Senate


What is the contribution ofAzerbaijan to the energysecurity of Europe?

Azerbaijan has guaranteed its ownlong-term energy security and playsan important role in ensuring theenergy security of the region andEurope. Important element of thisis development of the Southern GasCorridor. As it was stated in theJoint Declaration of President ofthe Republic of Azerbaijan, IlhamAliyev and President of the Euro-pean Commission, Jos ManuelDuro Barroso on Southern GasCorridor signed on January 13,2011 that opening of the SouthernGas Corridor and creating the gastransportation route from the Cas-pian Sea to the Europe correspondsto the shared strategic objective ofthe European Union and the Repu-blic of Azerbaijan.Azerbaijan is recognized as subs-tantial contributor and enabler ofthe Southern Gas Corridor whichplays an exceptional role in openingthe alternative gas pipeline route toand ensuring long-term energysecurity of the European countries.Recently, on June 28, 2013 Shah

Deniz (SD) Consortium afterintensive evaluation process madea decision in favor of Trans AdriaticPipeline (TAP) project versusNabucco West to carry SD-2 gasvolumes to Europe through Greece,Albania to Italy. Another importantmilestone, SD European Gas SalesAgreements were signed with 9 lea-ding European energy companieson September 19, 2013 which willbe a significant contribution to theenergy security of European coun-tries. We expect to start gas delive-ries to Europe at the end of 2018,beginning of 2019.

What are the prospects ofgas exports of Azerbaijan toEurope?

Shah Deniz filed with total reserves

of 1.2 cubic meters of gas andmore than 240 million tons ofcondensate will be an initial pri-mary source for export. Recentdiscovery of Absheron fieldwhich is operated jointly byTotal, GDF Suez and SOCARwith prel iminary est imate of300 bln. cubic meters of gas aswell as Umid field operatedsolely by SOCAR with 300 bln.cubic meters of gas reserves andother perspective fields wil lsignificantly strengthen futureexport capacity of Azerbaijan.As is known, one of the keyselection criteria set by Azerbai-jani side was scalability of thepipeline. If at the initial stage,when SD-2 is online we plan todeliver around 10 bcm toEurope via SCP, TANAP andTAP pipelines, recent discove-ries will allow us to graduallyincrease supply volumes. As akey strategic l ine taken bySOCAR we will also diversifythe customers and will try tocover more countries located inthe geographical vicinity of thecountries crossed by TAP as wellas new markets.

The Southern Gas Corridor is ensuringlong-term energy security of the EuropeancountriesElshad Nasirov, Vice-President of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR)



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Night in Baku

Azerbaijan known in Franceas the pearl of the Caucasuswith its dynamicallydeveloping economy. Howdo you assess the currentstate of economicdevelopment of Azerbaijan?

Azerbaijan is rapidly developing eco-nomy due to its rich hydrocarbonresources. During our visits to Azer-baijan we observed that its leaderstackle not only short-term but alsolong-term development challenges.Azerbaijan has also huge develop-ment potential in such sectors asagriculture, science, technologies,industry, tourism, etc. Oil revenuesefficiently used to address develop-ment needs of sustainable resourcesof this country.

Another important feature of Azer-baijan is its strong commitment tomodernize and maintain its cultu-ral and social values. Azerbaijan isreligiously very tolerant countrywith deep traditional roots. Leaders

of Azerbaijan are indeed doingefforts not to harm its secular har-mony as a result of rapid economicgrowth. Different religious harmo-niously and peacefully co-exist inAzerbaijan which is one of bestexamples of tolerance in the wholeworld. Today Azerbaijan is interna-tional center on inter-cultural dia-logue. Since 2010, each year Azer-baijan hosts important international

humanitarian and inter-culturalforums where the worlds humani-tarian and science elites come toge-ther to discuss and addressrelevant global challenges.And finally, from geo-strate-gic point of view, Azerbaijanis key country in this veryimportant region. Based inthe Eastern Europe it is stra-tegically located at the cross-roads of Europe and Asia.Azerbaijan is very stableisland favorably located closeto big important internatio-nal markets.

Could you brieflyprecise the currentstate of economic coopera-tion between Azerbaijan andthe province of Yonne? Areyou realizing concrete pro-jects? What is your assess-ment of importance of theseprojects for Yonne andFrance?

Actually we are working with ourcompanies on specific projects, andparticularly in the agro-industry sec-tor, where province of Yonne hasstrong comparative advantages. Far-mers of our province have associa-ted to win very promising marketof Azerbaijan and they are alreadysuccessfully exported 1200 cows oforigin Charolais to this country.And definitely, it will have very posi-tive impact for development of lives-tock potential of Azerbaijan. This isan excellent example of our long-term concrete cooperation requiringnumber of political and technicalmeetings to better understandexpectations of each side. We are

We are working with our companies onconcrete projects, and particularly in theagro-industry sector

Andr Villiers, President of the General Council of the province of Yonne ofthe region of Burgundy


Oil Company of Azerbaijan(DEFSA is the Greek nationalnatural gas transport network ope-rator and SOCAR is the State OilCompany of Azerbaijan Republic).The Samaras government strug-gled so hard to attract investorsthat they can really welcome thisnew partner as an unexpectedbreath of fresh air, as Greece nolonger has to worry about one ofthe public companies it was aboutto privatise.

Apart from Greece, whichcountries will benefit fromthat project and which willlose out?

Italys and the Berlusconigovernments hopes of becomingthe energy hub of Europe weredashed. Berlusconi always had aprivileged relationship with Presi-dent Putin and supported boththe Bluestream and Southstreamprojects that the European Com-mission criticized so much. As aresult, Italy might only be a coun-try of transit. This is why PrimeMinister Letta travelled to Baku

recently: he wanted to show howmuch Italy is interested in theTAP project and discuss the pos-sibility of an extension to thenorth of Europe in order to delivergas from Azerbaijan up to Swit-zerland, Belgium, Germany, theNetherlands and the United King-dom.

The countries of Central Europeare the most dependent on Rus-sian gas (with a proportion of upto 80 to 90 per cent for countrieslike Poland, the Czech Republic,Romania and Bulgaria) and hadhigh hopes of the Nabucco route.Today they are the victims both ofthe selfishness of the countries ofWestern Europe and of the choiceof TAP. In this respect, the North-stream project, which will provideRussian gas to Germany via theBaltic Sea, is the perfect exampleof the inconsistency and inade-quacy of the EU in terms ofenergy policy. By contrast, Wes-tern European countries shouldbenefit the doubling of TAPscapacities on the long run (10 bil-lion cubic meters now, 20 billion

cubic meters expected). Russiacountered this by promoting itsown gas pipeline project, SouthStream, which would cross theBlack Sea to come ashore in Bul-garia and serve Romania, Hungaryand Austria.

As a conclusion, what doyou think is the future ofthe European Union onthese energy issues and interms of neighbourhoodpolicy in South Caucasus?

Unfortunately, Europe has the faceof the European Disunion, everycountry playing its own card onthis issue, as on others. The res-huffling of the deck is a newopportunity offered to Europe andthe Commission, with the objec-tive of laying the foundation of acommon energy policy. Just asArmenia announced its entry intothe Customs Union established byMoscow, the pivotal role playedby Azerbaijan in supplying gas tothe European Union forces us toassess European policies in theCaucasus more realistically.



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Chalet of wines ofGanja at the ReimsInternationalMarket inNovember 2013

Azerbaijani gas to Europe without passing by the Russia square: the Southern gas corridorThe Southern Corridor will be made of 3 sections: SCP (South Caucasus Pipeline, active), TANAP (Trans-Anatolian pipeline), TAP (Trans-Adriatic pipeline)Competing projects: South Stream (Russian project, construction of which has just started), Nabucco West (European project) Area of tension

Azerbaijani redwine "Madrasa",Ganja

What is your analysis of theFrench economic presencein Azerbaijan?The French presence in Azerbaijanis more visible in the petroleum andgas industry with Total which is thepartner in Shah Deniz 2 gas fieldand the operator of Absheron gasfield. GDF Suez is the first buyer ofgas on the future development ofShah Deniz 2. Entrepose, Nexansand Technip have widely developedtheir activities as well.Economic diversification of thecountry is one of the governmentspriorities: the non-oil sector offersnumerous opportunities. Our com-panies participate in rail and urbantransportations sector (with Alstom,Geismar, Systra and Thales) as wellas air transport (Airbus, Eurocop-ter). The French expertise in thefield of communication technolo-gies, including space, is soughtout/in demand; as a matter of fact,the first satellite of telecommunica-tion of Azercosmos was launched bythe rocket Ariane from Kourou, lastFebruary.The food-processing industry israpidly growing: Lactalis, Danoneand several companies in the wine-producing sector are present. Consi-dering the political will to registerthe countrys economic growth in aperspective of sustainable develop-ment, the environment and the newenergies are promising sectors, asdemonstrated by the recent successof the CNIM in Baku (waste treat-ment and electricity generation).The modernization of the capital,which will accelerate for the prepa-ration of organization of the firstEuropean games in 2015, offers pro-mising opportunities. The Frenchfashion designers boutiques flou-rish in the city. Moreover, a highpotential exists in the sector of tou-

rism which could raise the interestof several French companies, parti-cularly for the winter sports.

What is the local supportscheme for the Frenchcompanies and how does itwork?The local support scheme is assuredby the economic mission of theEmbassy.The Economic Mission assures thesupport to major contracts, themacroeconomic follow-up, in parti-cular foreign trade and investments,and the relation with the nationalauthorities and the internationalorganizations. The Economic Mis-sion can as well initiate some opera-tions as the recent organization of aseminar for the presentation of theFrench sports sectors offers: thisseminar has allowed the presentationof a board range of 25 French com-panies to the Organizing Commit-tee of the first European gameswhich will take place in Baku in2015.The Economic Mission supports aswell the activity of UbiFrance officein Istanbul. The latter ensures theapproach and support of the FrenchSMEs on the Azerbaijanis market.In this framework, the economicmission contributes to finding, iden-tification and contacting the poten-

tial partners.Today an informal business clubgathers the main French companiessettled in Azerbaijan; however thisorganization cannot satisfy effectivelythe increasing requests of the Frenchcompanies wishing to work on thismarket. The future French-Azerbai-jani chamber of commerce, the crea-tion of which is under consideration,should allow a better coordinationwith UbiFrance to support theFrench SMEs interested in Azerbai-jan.

Thepromotionof theattractiveness of the Frenchterritory and the encouragementofAzerbaijani investments inFrance are also a part of yourmission?According to our ministerial instruc-tions the economic mission is natu-rally mobilizedfor the promotion ofthe attractiveness of the French terri-tory.The interest of Azerbaijani inves-tors is increasing. A major investment(135 M ) has been confirmed onDecember 2012, with the purchaseof a real estate complex at "8 PlaceVendme" in Paris by SOFAZ, theoil sovereign fund of Azerbaijan.The potential sectors for Azerbaijaniinvestments in France are multiple,as attested by the recent capital invest-ment of FC Bakus president in RCLens football club. In coordinationwith AFII (French Agency for theInternational Investments) and theFrench regions, the Economic Mis-sion can facilitatethe visit of Azer-baijani investorsin France, as itwas, in particu-lar the case inLorraine andRhne -A lpe sthis year.


also on the track to commence twoother concrete and ambitious pro-jects dedicated to wine growing andtourism, and industrial bakery sec-tors in the ancient city of Azerbai-jan, the city of Ganja. It is alsoworth recollecting that this verybeautiful and second administrativecity of Azerbaijan, the city of Ganja,as a result of particularly difficultcompetition was selected as a Euro-pean Youth Capital in 2016. Andusing this opportunity, I wish tocongratulate our friends from Azer-baijan by this brilliant victory.

What is your assessment thecurrent state of awarenessabout Azerbaijan in theregions of France?

If you had asked this question three

years ago, I would certainly assess itnegatively, but today the situationhas changed considerably and veryrapidly, and actually my response ismuch more positive. The level ofawareness about Azerbaijan in theregions of France is rapidly develo-ping on a daily basis and conse-quently the interest is growing tothis beautiful country.

In this line, I have to express mygratitude to the First Lady of theRepublic of Azerbaijan MadameMehriban Aliyeva, who leads theHeydar Aliyev Foundation doingstrong efforts for realization ofconcrete cultural projects in Franceand in its regions aimed to promoterich cultural heritage of Azerbaijanamong our citizens.In this regard, I must also highlight

efficient work of the Embassy ofthe Republic of Azerbaijan inFrance, and namely, dynamism,creativity and significant efforts ofMr. Elchin Amirbayov, Ambassa-dor of Azerbaijan in France, andMr. Elmar Mammadov, Counse-lor on economic affairs and coope-ration with regions of the Embassyof Azerbaijan in France. Duringthe past three years, they haveconsiderably developed economicand decentralized cooperation bet-ween Azerbaijan and France, andtheir different regions, and ofcourse with our province. I ima-gine challenges they faced on thisway, but today many French tou-rists are very keen to visit thisbeautiful country of Azerbaijan.

What are the principaladvices that you would giveto French enterprises andcompanies of yourprovince, and particularly,SMEs?

Azerbaijan is changing very fast.Its leaders are young and profes-sional. They are strongly commit-ted to modernize their country.But as in all the other formerSoviet Union countries, there aresometimes bureaucratic challengesinherited from the communistperiod. With the assistance of theEmbassy of Azerbaijan in Francewe had chance to meet with Mr.Ilham Aliyev, the President of theRepublic of Azerbaijan, who isyoung, and strong personality witha very dynamic and modernapproaches supporting the deve-lopment of his countrys compre-hensive cooperation with France.With his support, we had access tohigh-level officials who also contri-buted development of our econo-mic cooperation. We have severaltimes visited with our SMEs Azer-baijan. We have jointly designedseveral ambitious projects suppor-ting Azerbaijans tremendous eco-nomic development, which willdefinitely further reinforce existingexcellent cooperation betweenAzerbaijan and France.



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The economic service of the Embassycontributes to finding the potential partnersHerv Sarnelli, Economic Counselor of the Embassy of France in the Republicof Azerbaijan

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Ganja internationalvine and wine

festival

Ganja internationalvine and wine

festival

Azerbaijani whitewine "Sadilli",Ganja

Wines of Qabala

What are your economicpriorities?Our major objective is to developthe non-energy sector of our eco-nomy due to existing substantialpotential in this sector that has notyet been fully exploited. We aredetermined to further develop ourregions and cities outside of thecapital city Baku through series oftangible and important projects inareas of agriculture, tourism, infor-mation and communication tech-nologies (ICT), renewable energy,non-petroleum industrial growth,infrastructure enhancement, etc.Building on the initiative of the Pre-sident of the Republic of Azerbai-jan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, two impor-tant state programmes onsocio-economic development ofregions were realized during 2004-2008 and 2009-2013. That helpedto ensure a breakthrough in achie-ving some of the targets. In the fra-mework of those programmes,public investments, aimed toaddress infrastructural developmentprojects combined with domesticand foreign private investments,have created over 1.2 million newjobs in the region of Azerbaijan,thus significantly improving theliving standards amongst the localpopulation.Our government has introduced atradition of proclaiming every year

to be the year of sectoral develop-ment. That helps to consequentlykeep the focus on dynamic deve-lopment of that particular sector.For instance, 2010 was the year ofprotection of ecology and environ-ment; 2011 was the year of tourismdevelopment; 2012 was the year ofsports promotion; 2013 was the yearof information and communicationtechnologies. This year of 2014 isdedicated to mobilising the effortsfor the potential of industrialgrowth.Our Government has adopted thedevelopment strategy titled Azer-baijan in 2020: looking into thefuture. This document has becomesort of a road map for long-termobjectives of the national develop-ment agenda. Our challenges for2020 are to give a new impetus andcreate further growth in the non-energy sector of our economy, anddevelopment of science, innovationand the new technologies; to raiseGDP per capita to 10,000, toensure a rapid growth in the volumeof exports of products of the non-energy sector, as well as to raise anannual growth rate in GDP percapita to a higher level of more than7%. The forecast of populationgrowth is an annual increase of1.1% between now and 2020. By2020, Azerbaijan will have approxi-mately 10.2 million inhabitants.Also among our priorities for the

current year is the development ofthe traditional spheres of the non-energy sector such as petrochemicaland chemical industry, metallurgy,mechanical industry, electro-tech-nics, electronics, light industry andagro-industry, as well as the creationand development of other new com-petitive industrial sectors.The creation of companies based onthe use of innovative technologiesin the special industrial zones willbe further encouraged by ourGovernment. Taking into accounteach regions economic potential,Azerbaijan also supports the crea-tion of special economic zones toaccommodate the industrial sites ofthe future, like those in Sumqayitfor the processing of petrochemicalproducts, in Balakhany for wastemanagement and recycle treatment,and in Ganja for metals and miningsector (particularly aluminium).Actually, we are promoting the rea-lization of several large-scale indus-trial projects, such as the shipyardin Baku, the urea factory in Sum-qayit and other industrial complexes(steel, petrochemicals, oil-gas, etc.)with active involvement of the pri-vate sector.Also, with regard to the develop-ment of non-energy sector, ourGovernment will pay a particularattention to the development ofagribusiness sector potential in thelight of an increasing number ofmeasures and regulations linked tofood security.We are keen deepen ourknowledge about yourcountry and we areinterested to know aboutAzerbaijani second biggestcity of Ganja, annuallyhosted the internationalvine and wine festivalswhere France participates as

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Our main economic objective is topromote Azerbaijans non-energy exportsElmar Mammadov, Counselor on economic affairs and cooperation with regions,Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in France


the honoured guest with itsSMEs. Can you tell us moreabout this city and itsfestival?Azerbaijan is well known for itswine growing and wine-making tra-ditions since ancient times, and ofcourse, due to favourable climateand agricultural conditions, as wellas existing relevantly big potential,we wish to maintain and developactivity in this sector and that is whyrecently we have adopted state pro-gramme for development of winegrowing in our country for 2012-2020.Our second biggest city Ganja hos-ted the international vine and winefestivals over the last two years. Wehave established this very good tra-dition jointly with our friends fromFrance. On 1-2 November 2013,the city of Ganja hosted the secondinternational vine and wine festivalwhere over 40 local and foreigncompanies presented. Over 1,200participants of that festival featuredboth producers and consumers. TheDirector General of the Internatio-nal Organisation of Vine and Wine(OIV) has also participated at thisevent, and presented global state ofplay in vine and wine sectors at therelevant conference organized in thisregard. The festival helped to esta-blish contacts between local produ-cers and their foreign counterparts.At the same time, the festival hel-ped to promote tourism potentialof the city of Ganja, which is oneof the ancient cities of our countryand the whole East.While speaking about Ganja, I cannot to highlight that our this histo-rical city has given to the world lite-rature such famous Azerbaijanigenius poets, writers and philoso-phers as Nizami Ganjavi (1141-1209) and Mahsati Ganjavi (1089-1159). Due to its location at theancient Silk Road, Ganja was in thepast the real economic, political andcultural centre of Azerbaijan and inthe whole Caucasus. Ganja becamethe first capital of the DemocraticRepublic of Azerbaijan, was createdin our country back on 28 May1918 for the first time in the whole

East.I would also like to mention thatthe city of Ganja and its universi-ties are very actively developing asuccessful cooperation with a num-ber of French cities, regions and uni-versities. In so doing, we, with thesupport of Ganja, are advancing asuccessful bilateral cooperation bet-ween our two countries.I wish to conclude my response toyour question about this beautifulcity with good news for your rea-ders. On 21 November 2013, fol-lowing particularly difficult compe-tition held in Thessaloniki (Greece),Ganja has won the title of the Euro-pean Youth Capital (EYC) in 2016.Thus, the city of Ganja will becomethe first EYC in this part of theworld. In general, the first EYC wasRotterdam (the Netherlands) in2009, followed by Torino (Italy) in2010, Antwerp (Belgium) in 2011,Braga (Portugal) in 2012, Maribor(Slovenia) in 2013, Thessaloniki(Greece) in 2014 and Cluj Napoca(Romania) in 2015.What are the economicspecializations of otherAzerbaijani cities?Several Azerbaijani cities are equallybeautiful, touristicand attractive.While our city ofNakhchivan is reco-gnized by its rapidindustrial and agri-cultural growth, it isalso well-known fordeveloping popular art activitiessuch pottery, ironwork, tapestry-making, textiles, gold work, etc.Another Azerbaijani city, Minga-chevir, is well-known for its majorcontribution to the countrys elec-tricity production, also for its spor-tive rowing complexes and rich tra-ditions in this field.The city of Sumqayit located on theCaspian Sea coast, is one of thecountrys leading industrial hubs.Situated in the north of Azerbaijan,the city of Qusar is known by itswinter tourism. Its modern skiresort is one of the biggest facilitiesin the whole region and able toaccommodate thousands of tourists

every year. Neighbouring city ofQuba is famous by its high-qualityapples and organizer each yearannual apple festival. The city ofQabala is another touristic center,and it recently inaugurated a newski resort. Qabala also hosts severalfactories in the sector of food indus-try, as well as production of pianos.It is also worldwide known by orga-nization of annual classical musicfestivals. The city of Goychay iswell-known for its delicious pome-granates, for which there is also anannual festivals.Neighbouring the city of Ganja andsituated close to legendary beauti-ful blue lake, the city of Gygl(translated as blue lake) is famousfor its wines. Another town, Tovuz,specializes mainly in wine growingand produces spirits (brandy) madefrom grapes.

Currently occupiedby neighbouringArmenia, one ofAzerbaijani ancientcities, Khankendi islocated in theNagorno-Karabakhregion of Azerbai-

jan. This town has always beenknown for developed industry andagriculture, and also for breedingoutstanding horses of Karabakh (intranslation from Azerbaijani meansblack garden).Another Azerbaijani oldest town,also located in our Nagorno-Kara-bakh region, is thecity of Shusha. It iswell known in theworld as the EasternConservatoire dueto locations of Azer-baijani schools ofour traditionalmusic (mugham).Shusha is the birth-



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View to FlameTowers from theold city of Baku(Icheri Sheher)

Advertisement ontrams of the eventsdedicated to 900thanniversary ofcreativity of greatAzerbaijani poetessof XII centuryMahsati GANJAVIin the frameworkof the project ofthe Heydar AliyevFoundation

Ski resort in Qusarregion ofAzerbaijan

Wines cave in thecity of Gygl

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cular for Baku metro), civilaviation (helicopters, controlequipment), water and wastemanagement and treatment.The luxury and art sectors arealready well established inAzerbaijan, but they certainlydeserve being further deve-lopped.In summer 2015, Baku will be hos-ting the First European OlympicGames. Once again, the French offerin the area of sports is exceptionnaland will undoubtedly find a way toexpress itself on this occasion.Wewantto develop an effective dialogue bet-ween Azerbaijani and French autho-rities and companies in order to iden-tify the best cooperation priorities andhelp deliver tailored proposals.The Chamber is being reorganized ina way which will enable it to respondeffectively to these needs: the forth-coming launch of a new site and thepublication for our members of aneconomic outlook providing infor-mation on economic opportunitiesand on concrete projects. In addition,the CCFAz will be matched with theAzerbaijan - France Commerce andIndustry Chamber (CCIAF) in Baku,

which is being established.We are ready to help Azer-baijani and French compa-nies to acquire more infor-mation about economicopportunities in order to fos-ter broader business relationsin Azerbaijan and in France.

In this respect, we wish to informyour readers that President Hollandewill visit Azerbaijan on 11th and12th of May 2014. On this occasionhe will participate at the unagura-tion of the CCIAF in Baku. Thisvisit, the first one since the begin-ning of his mandate, will certainlystrengthen the links between ourtwo countries and will undoubtedlyplay a decisive role in boostingmutual investment. I would like toremind you that Azerbaijan is acountry with an extremely rich cul-tural heritage, which I encourageyour readers to discover whilst doingbusiness there.Any company can become a mem-ber of our Chamber and get intouch with Ms Mirvari Fataliyevawho is in charge of external relationsof the CCFAz via the followinge-mail address: [email protected].

LE MOCI - N 1960 - 3 april 2014 - Edition Azerbaijan 2014 2524 LE MOCI - N 1960 - 3 april 2014 - Edition Azerbaijan 2014


place of mugham and prepares highlytrained musicians, some of whomeven adopted the pseudonym of theirhome town Shusha.The famous French writer, Alexan-dre Dumas (father), travelled to Azer-baijan in the mid-19th century. Fol-lowing his journey, he wroteJourney to the Caucasus, in whichhe tells about his meeting with thefamous Azerbaijani poetess, Khour-chidbanou Natavan, the daughter ofthe Khan of Karabakh and gives along description of the silk-produ-cing town of Shaki located at thebeautiful mountains.Shaki also features in contemporaryhistory as the birthplace of a hero ofour two countries, Azerbaijan andFrance: Akmdia Mikhalogly Dja-bralov, known in France as ArmedMichel, who supported the Resis-tance Movement.I could continue listing our beautifulcities and regions, but I think itwould be better to visit Azerbaijanto have an idea of the prosperousdevelopment of Baku and otherregion of our beautiful country.Azerbaijan is still not very wellknown in the French regions. Thatis why we have launched the culturalproject of the Heydar Aliyev Foun-dation, known as The culturalvalues of Azerbaijan, the Pearl of theCaucasus, which aimedto promote a widerknowledge of our coun-trys richest culture, cui-sine and traditions inFrench provinces. Weorganized a series of cul-tural events, including aconcerts and exhibitions,in 20 French cities. And Ihave to say that this pro-

ject was very well received and suc-cessful in those cities. As a result ofthis success, we are obviously lookingto continue this positive experiencein other cities of your country.Which economic objectivesdo you have in France?We are looking to develop bilateraleconomic relations based on theprinciples of reciprocal interests andequal rights. We are doing all effortsto spread objective infor-mation about Azerbaijan,its economic and tourismpotential, existing exportopportunities in our non-energy sector, ways of faci-litation of tourists flows,and investment and know-how to Azerbaijan with thebest possible receptionconditions, ways of accele-ration of our bilateral cooperation inthe food industrial sector, informa-tion and communication technolo-gies (ICT), renewable energy and theaerospace sectors, etc.We are already well on the way toachieving these objectives. For exam-ple, in 2012, following to famousvin

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