The Azerbaijan International Investment Forum (AIIF) completes a full week of high-level events in Baku, which include the Baku Security Forum, where over 100 countries attended to discuss new-age threats and Formula 1's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which has seen the city transform into the biggest motorsport event of the year. It is one of the busiest weeks in the country’s calendar, and many industries are reaping the rewards. The week concluded with a shift in focus to international finance and investment as the Second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum opened on 25 September at the Baku Convention Centre.
The two-day event aimed to redefine the global investment architecture and strengthen the South Caucasus as a pillar of connectivity. Keyu Jin, Professor of Finance, Chair of the Centre for Macro-Finance and Geo-economics at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, China, was one of the attendees at AIIF. She said she was "remarkably impressed" by the city and the organisation of all the events "from the Formula One to the security conference to the AIIF conference really bring a flow of people around the world and really placing Azerbaijan on the global map".
She told Euronews that "it is inherent forward-looking towards the future, but fused with this savouring of the past is really what makes this place really special". Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economy, Mikayil Jabbarov, said in his address that "reliability of partners and the resilience of supply chains carry even greater weight in economic decision-making" and that long-term partnerships were continuing to grow and "generate new investment and reinvestment". "Most foreign companies operating in our country choose to reinvest their profits back here and especially along with traditional energy production also to renewable one," he added.
Azerbaijan’s new pitch for international capital is not simply to invest in the country, but also to use it as a gateway to a much bigger market. There are reasons why the country is attracting global investors. A growing focus on what connects Asia to Europe and a push towards diversification seems to be very attractive to some, including the Ministry of Economy, which partnered with Vietnam's ROX Group on construction and development, while also signing a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft to advance the national digital economy.
In renewable energy, the Ministry of Energy teamed up with energy subsidiaries of ROX Group to evaluate utility-scale solar and wind projects. The Azerbaijan Business Development Fund signed agreements with Slovakia's Saneca Pharmaceuticals for drug manufacturing, Turkey's VETAL for veterinary vaccine production, and the Czech Republic's AGROFERT alongside Agro Dairy for the Aghdam Poultry Project. Azerbaijan Investment Holding and the Oman Investment Authority signed a term sheet regarding the Azerbaijan-Oman Direct Investment Fund, while SOCAR, the Azerbaijan State Water Reserves Agency, and UAE-based Esyasoft Technologies established a tripartite agreement to assess local water meter manufacturing.
Nouriel Roubini, CEO of Rubini Macro Associates, believes Azerbaijan is going from "strength to strength". He cites several reasons, including its energy resources, saying "we live in a world in which the demand for energy is really important". When referring to Azerbaijan, he underlines his belief that the country has "good governance, good macroeconomic policies, and they have also a vision about how they can integrate their own economy into a broader regional economy and trade and investment links between East and West".
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