The 5th annual edition of the “EU Business Climate Report Azerbaijan2020” officially launched

On 9 March 2021, with the financial assistance of the European Union, COWI Belgium in cooperation with the Azerbaijan-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AFchamber), the Italy-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (ITAZERCOM), InvestBaku and AZPROMO organized a webinar to launch the “EU Business Climate Report Azerbaijan 2020”.

The webinar counted with the participation of the honorable guests Mr Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan, Mr. Kestutis Jankauskas, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan and other distinguished government and business representatives from Europe and Azerbaijan. 

In this fifth edition of the Report, the Italy-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (ITAZERCOM) and the Azerbaijan-France Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AFchamber) in cooperation with other EU organizations have taken the lead to coordinate the survey together with the support of COWI Belgium and the relevant expertise. The survey results this year are based on 123 responses and 25 interviews representing the balanced views of investors from 22 European countries working in Azerbaijan.

Kestutis Jankauskas – “The 5th edition of the “EU Business Climate Report 2020” provides an independent assessment of the current business climate in Azerbaijan and enables to see the trends. I hope that the Government of Azerbaijan and EU businesses operating or planning to work in the country will find the Report useful for their work as we do for planning of further development of EU-Azerbaijan relations. I encourage EU businesses to have a new look into Azerbaijan and wish Baku to embrace further openness while continuing reforms.”

Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov stressed that cooperation with the European Union is one of the important directions of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy.

The minister informed about the growing dynamics of relations between the parties, mutual visits, high-level meetings, and the importance of the broad legal framework.

Mr. Jabbarov noted that EU is Azerbaijan’s major trade partner with total turnover 9.33 bln USD (that is 38.1%) in 2020. The total amount of EU investment in Azerbaijan is more than 20 bln USD for the last eight years.

Ms. Bogdana Efe, Team Leader of the Project shared a presentation to inform attendees about the key figures and outcomes of the Report and its role in reflecting the main challenges of EU businesses in the country, tracking the progress of economic reforms and determining priorities for further improvement of the local business environment. 

The webinar was attended by officials of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, the representatives of the Azerbaijani government, EU Chambers of Commerce, companies from Europe and Azerbaijan.

Download Report – https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/azerbaijan/94495/eu-business-climate-report-azerbaijan-2020_en

The initiative is funded by the European Union under the EU-Azerbaijan Business Forum.