OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2009. The 1st International Azerbaijan Investment Summit was held in London on December 8-9, 2009.  The summit was organized by Adam Smith Conferences with support from Azerbaijan’s embassy in the UK.

Igor Yakovenko, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, AZEL has attended Summit as a member of Azerbaijan delegation and presented report during the session “Building on Investment Opportunities in Azerbaijan”. As he noted in his speech “Azerbaijan is the country of great opportunities. Azerbaijan has achieved gradual improvement in the overall legal framework for the investment activities in the country for last several years.

Our Government managed to open up economy for the international business and introduce investments friendly laws and regulations. Besides, transparency in the economy, particularly in the extractive industries is fully provided”. Also, Igor Yakovenko has told about AZEL’s experience in issuing and placement of corporate bonds at the Baku Stock Exchange. “We have issued corporate bonds three times during 2007-2009 and fully released them at the Baku Stock Exchange. In the future plans of the company – placement of bonds on the London stock exchange. It will allow to increase interest of foreign investors to Azerbaijan and to attract financial resources to the country. Attraction of additional resources to the company will allow to open new job places, increase professional level of employees and will be supporting to company’s business development”. At the end of his speech Igor Yakovenko expressed its hope that this summit will contribute to further development of relations between Azerbaijan and the United  Kingdom.

The format of the first ever Azerbaijan Investment Summit in London was a three-day conference, with a highly informative and innovative agenda, featuring a mixture of formal plenary and interactive sessions. The 50+ expert speaker panel was consisted of an official Ministerial delegation from Azerbaijan, PLUS board level representatives from the major corporate in Azerbaijan together with leading international investors.

The event was aimed to ensure that the international investment community is fully informed about the opportunities that exist in one of the world’s most promising emerging markets