President Ilham Aliyev: Our energy policy should serve the development of the economy

Baku, July 15 (AZERTAC). “As a result of the first major projects, our companies were practically able to stand up and accumulate capital and experience,” said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in his opening speech at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socioeconomic development in the first half of 2014 and objectives for the future.

“Then they started to invest in Azerbaijan. I also recommended that to them. At the same time, we created an environment in Azerbaijan whereby investment was the most comfortable way. Of course, it is necessary to invest in other countries too, and we as a state are doing that. But the local companies working here would be better off investing in Azerbaijan. The return on investment is higher and the investments are also protected by the state,” the Azerbaijani President noted.

President Ilham Aliyev said: “Therefore, as a result of the implementation of TANAP and “Shah Deniz-2” projects, our companies engaged in construction, services, other areas and, of course, the energy sector should be prepared. They should participate in the bidding and make good proposals to win. Thus, they will pay more taxes and create more jobs. In short, our energy policy should serve the development of the economy in this way, not only by channelling the revenue into infrastructure projects. This will be the case, of course. As a result of these projects, we will obtain large revenues which will be spent on the development of the economy and social issues. As a result of the contracts, the creation of jobs will be sped up through the activities of local companies and the creation of new industries.”