Khachmaz, a regional town in the north-eastern part of Azerbaijan, recently hosted a roundtable in the framework of the united project of the coalition Increasing Transparency in Extractive Industries (ITEI) and a campaign known as Public Awareness and the Growth of the Interest of the Citizens in the Prudent Use of Oil Incomes.

Participating in the event were around 50 activists from Khachmaz, as well as Mr Asgar Ahmad, the joint co-ordinator for subproject and the head of the Fund for the Protection of Democratic Values, and Mr Vusal Qasimov, a member of the Board of the Centre for Economic Research who also acted in the capacity of a speaker.

Opening the gathering, Mr Asgar Ahmad gave the floor to participants to introduce themselves and briefed them on the aim of the event. Then, he provided information about the significance of the ITEI coalition, its core principles and values, and gave an insight into history of establishment and activity, goals and objectives of the alliance. Subsequently, the floor was given to Mr Vusal Qasimov, the speaker. In his presentation entitled Oil Theory Mr Qasimov informed the participants of the oil projects – full-scale development of the deep-water section of the Azari-Ciraq-Gunasli (ACG) contract area; phase 1 development of the Sahdaniz gas & liquids field; operation of the Baku-Ceyhan Main Export Pipeline (BTC MEP); operation of the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline – which were being implemented in Azerbaijan. Then he touched upon the subject of petroleum development and petrodollars – in 2006 Azerbaijan produced 32.2 million tons of crude oil worth 15.7 billion U.S. dollars or, correspondingly, 3.8 tons and 1,850 U.S. dollars per capita; around 26 million tons of crude oil, worth 12.7 billion U.S. dollars, were exported, while domestic consumption totalled 6.2 million tons worth about 3 billion U.S. dollars. Afterwards, Mt Qasimov spoke of the prudent use of oil incomes and emphasized the following categories of risk factors existing in the field of management of oil incomes in Azerbaijan:

• Institutional backwardness of the economy of Azerbaijan;

• Lack of the model for the long-term use of oil & gas incomes;

• Level of corruption in the country;

• Investment climate in the non-oil sector;

• Flexibility of the financial sector and acceleration of the rate of inflation;

• Underdevelopment of the securities market;

• Limited resources of transparency, accountability and civilian oversight.

Referring to the importance of the well-grounded state strategy for the long-term use of oil & gas incomes in order to eliminate risk factors in the respective field of activity, Mr Qasimov made a particular emphasis on the prioritization of certain fields of the economy for future growth purposes, and the importance of channelling petrodollars into the development of those sectors.

At the end, there were given answers to the questions which the participants were interested in. Consequently, the floor was given to heated and interesting discussions over the topic.

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Last correction date of the file: 24/7/2008 - 14:58:45

Other language version of the file: /az/