"After all, there are free economic zones in different countries of the world today. As I mentioned, in some countries this is due to natural conditions and geographical location. The practice of creating free economic zones in countries without access to the high seas has not been very successful. We have studied and analyzed successful and unsuccessful experiences. We believe that there are all the prerequisites for the attraction of investors to this zone in Azerbaijan. I think that, first of all, the geographical location of this place is favorable – it is located by the sea, next to the seaport, and it is a fairly large area. At the initial stage, 60 hectares of land are ready for development. However, a total of 850 hectares of land has been allocated. Land adjacent to this plot of land has already been earmarked so that no construction takes place there. This is necessary for future development," President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijan Television in response to the question "What do you think, Mr. President, will attract investors to this Free Economic Zone and why will they invest here?", APA reports.
"Azerbaijan has a very good investment environment. We demonstrated this both during the implementation of oil and gas projects and as a result of reforms carried out in other areas. A very good investment environment has been created. It is no coincidence that Azerbaijan is ranked 28th out of 190 countries in the World Bank's Doing Business report. This is a great achievement on a global scale. We are ahead of many developed countries in terms of these parameters. In other words, a good investment climate is certainly one of the main conditions for attracting investors.
Another important reason why we believe that investors will come here is the availability of modern infrastructure. We have been consistently creating this infrastructure for several years. Today, we can say with reference to authoritative international organizations that we have made great progress in this area as well. We know that potential investors are primarily looking at the World Bank's Doing Business report, as well as the rankings of the Davos World Economic Forum. In both cases, our advantage is obvious. Notice the places Azerbaijan is awarded in terms of the level of infrastructure projects. In the field of electricity supply, Azerbaijan ranks second in the world in the Davos Forum’s report. Just imagine that we are in second place on a global scale. We are in eleventh place for the efficiency of railway services and in twelfth for air transport efficiency. We share 24th and 27th places for the quality of roads. The Caspian Shipping Company is ranked 25th for the quality of shipping services. All these are great successes we have achieved. These successes ensure dynamic development of our country today. Because major infrastructure projects have already been completed or are nearing completion. These are very important conditions for investors – investment environment and infrastructure projects," noted Azerbaijani President.
