Tokyo, June13 (AZERTAC). Japanese expert well known for exploration of investment opportunities in foreign countries Kazuyasu Ishida has published an article in his book featuring Azerbaijan`s business potential. 

The article, titled “Azerbaijan - Undiscovered Mountain of Wealth” highlights investment opportunities of the country.

In his book titled “Investment opportunities in foreign countries for Japanese businessmen”, the author focuses on Azerbaijan`s dynamic progress and favorable business climate.

The expert, who visited Azerbaijan in 2012 to study the country`s investment and business potential, shared his thoughts with Japanese readers about the country, its rapidly growing economy, favorable conditions created for foreign and local businessmen.

Giving broad information about the country, its geographic and geopolitical position, the Japanese expert writes that Azerbaijan is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north and Iran to the south.

The author says Azerbaijan has rich natural resources, particularly oil and gas reserves. The Japanese expert praises arable fertile soils of the country for agriculture. He also highlights development of mine industry in Azerbaijan.

The author compares territories of Azerbaijan with Hokkaido islands of Japan.

“As a multinational and multi-religious country, Azerbaijan is home to 9.3 million people. The national policy of the country is defined on the principles of tolerance and coexistence of various nationalities, ethnic groups and religious minorities,” the article underlines.

On the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Japanese expert writes that the unresolved armed conflict continues for more than 20 years, with neighboring Armenia which occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan`s territory and ousted over one million of Azerbaijanis from their homelands, who became refugees and IDPs. The author underlines that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan. The article says that Nagorno-Karabakh is a self-proclaimed republic, whose independence was not recognized by any country.

On energy resources and projects of the country, Kazuyasu Ishida writes “the oil industry of Azerbaijan has the history of 150 years. Nevertheless, the people of Azerbaijan were only able to begin a wide-scale utilization of these reserves in the late 20th century. Heydar Aliyev was the one who made that come true.”

“Azerbaijan which is famous as the oil country in the entire world initiated the industrial production of oil in the middle of the 19th century. Azerbaijan took the first place in the production and processing of oil in 1899 and accounted for 50% of the global oil production.”

The author particularly stresses the role of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline in terms of developing economic welfare of the country.

“BTC pipeline is a 1,768 kilometres long crude oil pipeline from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, via Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. It is the second-longest oil pipeline in the former Soviet Union, after the Druzhba pipeline. The first oil that was pumped from the Baku end of the pipeline on 10 May 2005 reached Ceyhan on 28 May 2006,” the article writes.

The author describes the pipeline as “an important project” for Europe. He says the project was initiated by nationwide leader of the Azerbaijani people Heydar Aliyev. The author writes “as a result of the implementation of oil strategy thoroughly worked out by Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan turned into one of the oil centers of the world, the state playing an important role in the formation of quite new economic model for the development of the region and the energy potential of the Caspian Sea, the expansion of political and trade relations between Europe and Asia.”

“Azerbaijan enjoys all round economic and social development due to effective management and spending of oil revenues” the expert notes.

The expert also brings examples by saying “in 2009, overall GDP grew at 9.3 percent, while a surplus of the payments balance was at $15 billion in 2010. According to the annual World Bank and International Finance Corporation ranking 'Doing Business - 2013,' Azerbaijan remains among the top 10 countries with the best situation in the field of property rights registration. The country scored 18th place among 185 countries”.

Comparing Azerbaijan with the United Arab Emirates, while its capital Baku with Dubai, the article highlights huge projects like Khazar Islands, Baku White City, construction of Heydar Aliyev International Airport`s new terminal and Heydar Aliyev Center.

The author hails Azerbaijan`s business climate and investment potential as “favorable” for foreign investors.