The first Azerbaijani International Regional business conference has been launched in the Shamakha region of Azerbaijan on 27 May.

Niyazi Safarov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Azerbaijan, stated that the volume of economy in Azerbaijan in the latest four years has increased by 96%.

As for 2007, the volume of state investments into the development of regions made up AZN 1.15bln. At present, the work to create new industry enterprises has been ongoing. Development of economy creates basis to attract foreign investments into the country.

At present, the preparatory work has been held to implement the program on socio-economic development of regions for next five years, Deputy Minister said.

Hulusi Kilij, Turkish Ambassador in Azerbaijan, stated that the trade turnover between the countries comprises $12bln. The investments together with the oil sector invested in Azerbaijan by Turkey totals $6bln.
Development of relations with Azerbaijan opens huge possibilities for China, Khu Bing Jin, Head of the Chinese-European technical and economic cooperation stated.

The organizers of the conference are the Ministry of Economic Development, Azerbaijani Export and Investment Promoting Fund (AZPROMO) and a group of companies of Evsen.

The business negotiations are planned to be held within the framework of the conference amongst firms and organizations from Azerbaijan, Turkey, China, Iran, and Baltic countries, Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Iraq, Pakistan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

A monitoring is expected to be held over outlets in business regions of Azerbaijan, Turkey, China and Iran, as well as there are plans to present foreign companies and organizations, meetings in Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Azerbaijan, in the state and economic organizations.