US Ambassador: Azerbaijan made tremendous progress over past 25 years

Baku. 23 December. REPORT.AZ/ Azerbaijan has made tremendous progress over past 25 years, despite its difficult geopolitical situation.

Report informs, American Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert F. Cekuta said in an interview with the Impact magazine of American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham) .

Through a number of steps taken by Azerbaijanis themselves, including by partnering with American and other international energy companies in the Contract of the Century, undertook a period of spectacular growth, modernization, and poverty reduction. 

Azerbaijan has seen 25 years of tremendous change. Azerbaijan is dealing with a set of issues due to the lower oil prices that other countries - and parts of the United States - face and have faced in the past when prices fell. We saw this in Texas and other parts of the U.S. oil patch when crude oil prices dropped in the 1980s, for example. T

he key thing is what a country does to diversify its economy so that there are other sources of income. but I would note the efforts at economic diversification - boosting Azerbaijan’s agricultural, IT, and tourism sectors, and building the infrastructure to make Baku a key point on east/west and north/south transport routes linking east and south Asia with Europe – are important and in line with what international economists would recommend.

Azerbaijanis have many reasons to be optimistic, despite the current challenges. To a great extent where Azerbaijan will be in 25 years will be determined by the Azerbaijanis themselves.