President: Azerbaijan will never be area of confrontation, it will be area of cooperation

Azerbaijan will never be an area of confrontation; it will be an area of cooperation, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said as he received a delegation from the US Chamber of Commerce on February 9, led by Khush Choksy, Senior Vice President, International Member Relations & Senior Vice President, Middle East & Türkiye, Report informs via AZERTAC.

In his remarks, President Ilham Aliyev spoke about the favorable investment climate created in Azerbaijan and, discussing the role of the country in Europe's energy security, said: "Once again, I am grateful for being with us. I looked at the list of the companies and see those with whom, as I said, we have worked for many years. They already expressed their views during their comments, such as Apple, Baker Hughes, Boeing, bp, Coca-Cola, Ericsson, Exxon, J.P. Morgan, Honeywell, Marriott, MasterCard, Visa, and some new names for me. So I think it's a good composition to build on the existing partnerships and cooperation we have, and also, for those who are visiting us for the first time, this will serve as a kind of reference for doing business in Azerbaijan. In general, the business climate in the country is very positive. We have attracted huge investments. If you look at the size of the country and population, 350 billion in investments over the last two decades is really a lot. And as we all know, investments are the main driving force for the development of any country. We have always been open to foreign investments, with our legislation, including production sharing agreements, which were signed 30 years ago. Not a single word has been changed.

I know that this is not the case anywhere else in the world. Sometimes, when you negotiate, you make some concessions, and then you want to reconsider them. That never happened here because we were absolutely sure that you have to build trust, especially in a country that was in a very poor situation, as I mentioned, at the beginning of the 1990s. You have to build trust over the years, and only one wrong step can ruin that trust. So we were lucky that we didn't make that wrong step. On the contrary, today, the number of companies that work with us is growing. The geography of our international relations is also expanding. Strategic partnership documents, agreements, and declarations have been signed with many countries, some of which are not on good terms with each other. But I have always said that Azerbaijan will never be an area of confrontation; it will be an area of cooperation.

There will be enough room for everyone, and, of course, the development agenda of the country demonstrates that we are on the right track. Today, as I said, relations with the United States are entering a new, absolutely fantastic era. We are very enthusiastic, and we want to use this great opportunity to establish direct contact between the companies."