Opening the round table, Mr Asgar Ahmad asked the audience to introduce themselves and informed participants of the goal of the gathering, as well as the essence of the ITEI coalition, its fundamental principles and philosophy, and provided background to the history of establishment and activities of the alliance. Consequently, the floor was given to Mr Vuqar Bayramov. An economist, who analysed different scenarios for crude oil production in Azerbaijan through 2023, he made a particular emphasis on a gradual downfall in the amount of oil revenues from 2010 onwards and, therefore, a double importance of the effective use of petrodollars in order to avoid a possible economic crisis. After that Mr Bayramov presented the results of an analysis of other macroeconomic indicators of the country, particularly, the composition of the state budget from the point of view of petrodollars. Referring to the significance of crafting a strategy for long-term use of oil & gas incomes, Mr Bayramov touched upon the priorities to be included in the document. He presented several scenarios for petrodollar spending by laying an emphasis on the co-ordination of specific requirements for the use of oil revenues. The speaker also paid a particular attention to the problems allegedly caused by petroleum proceeds. He gave examples featuring the Oil Curse (the theory of Mr David Landis from Harvard University), the Dutch Disease, the African Fever, and the Depreciation of Human Capital, and the Adverse Impact of Inflation. As to the initiatives aiming at the effective use of oil revenues and the ensuring of transparency in this field of activity, Mr Bayramov also expressed and shared his opinion concerning the ways and models of use of petrodollars. In general, the presentation gave rise to heated, but interesting discussion.

The following are the questions that have awakened the interest of participants and that have differed from those raised during the corresponding event in Migacevir:

1. To what extent is it necessary to have such a boost in oil production?

2. Why does the announced growth of economic development fail to echo in the standard of living of the population? What is the cause for such an imbalance?

3. In your opinion, to what extent is the public awareness of petrodollars satisfactory?

4. Do you know any country in the world, which, on the one hand, is rich in oil, corrupted, but, on the other hand, has reached high level of development?

Below are the observations following the gathering and the desirables for reality among participants:

1. Citizens, including those among civil activists, almost lack information on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Coalition Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries. It is interesting to know that asked what they knew about EITI and the ITEI Coalition only two out of 28 participants had proved their in-depth knowledge of the topic, while three admitted that they had a smattering of it. The remaining 23 said that they hadn’t possessed any information of this kind.

2. The most cherished desire of the people is the transformation of petrodollars into the development of the non-oil sector.

3. They fail to imagine the ways and the format in which civilian oversight of oil revenues will be exercised in Azerbaijan.

4. They think that wasteful spending of oil money gives rise to inflation, thereby having an increasingly negative impact on the financial status of citizens with low standard of living.

5. They would like that petrodollars were spent on the creation of new jobs.