BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8
Trend:
I do not want to say anything ahead of time, but we will witness new wonderful events in the field of energy in the coming days. That will be announced in due course. The new project will significantly strengthen our potential, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said chairing a meeting in a video format on the country's results of 2020, Trend reports.
“Although 2020 was a difficult year for all countries economically, Azerbaijan came out of this situation with fewer losses than other countries. Our economy shrunk by just over 4 percent. I think this is a good indicator. At the same time, I must say that our non-oil industry has grown by more than 11 percent. At the expense of what? Exactly at the expense of diversification. Because the policy of industrialization was carried out correctly," said the president.
"Oil production in our country is declining. At the same time, according to the OPEC+ agreement, we have reduced it ourselves. Oil prices have fallen. Were it not for the oil factor, our economy would probably have shrunk less. But the growth of the non-oil industry by more than 11 percent means the development of the real economy, the non-oil economy,” the head of state said.
“Agriculture has grown by 2 percent and will continue to grow. I have ordered that autumn sowing should now be carried out on liberated lands. We will talk about that. The average salary and average pension have increased by about 13-14 percent. The Oil Fund's resources have not decreased. They have actually increased. This may come as a surprise to many. Not much, but it has increased by about 0.5 percent. So we have been able to save our foreign exchange reserves. Although we have spent billions on the fight against coronavirus, waged war and paid other costs, benefits and social packages. Based on recent decisions, the allowance for the families of martyrs has been increased from 300 to 500 manats. So all this is a huge financial burden. But as a result of the stability of the state and the successful policy of our country, we have been able to achieve this,” Azerbaijani president said.
“At the end of the year, on 31 December, we received another piece of good news: the Southern Gas Corridor has been fully commissioned. Its last segment, TAP, has been commissioned. For the first time in history, Azerbaijani gas is already in Europe. This is our historic achievement. After all, we initiated the Southern Gas Corridor project. We have also borne the main financial burden. This project, which links many countries, lays the foundation for a new format of cooperation among the countries involved and other Eurasian countries in the future," said the president.
"This format of cooperation is already manifesting itself in the transport sector, trade and other sectors. We have redesigned the energy map of Eurasia. We have built three interconnected gas pipelines 3,500 kilometers in length. We have launched the Shah Deniz-2 project, and European consumers are already buying Azerbaijani gas. This is good for them and good for us. At the same time, successful work was done on other projects last year. I am confident that the development of these projects will bring us additional dividends – both economic and political,” the head of state said.