OREANDA-NEWS. June 25, 2013. In June, a major business conference “Investment Climate Development between the Silk Road Countries and Europe” was held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

The conference became the first wide-scale event in the region devoted to this issue and it attracted key participants of the European market of financial, legal and consulting services, as well as heads of leading companies from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia.

In total, over 200 delegates from 20 countries took part in the forum, including from Great Britain, Switzerland, Austria, United Arab Emirates and the Baltic States. Rietumu Bank was among the participants.

The central subject of the event was the issues of the investment climate development between the Silk Road countries and Europe, business management, real estate markets and topical issues of conducting international entrepreneurial activities.

The conference was excellently organised and prepared. The organisers succeeded in making it a real platform for discussions among representatives of independent private businesses and for establishing personal contacts between top managers of companies from the Caucasian and other regions, representatives of states and governments.

‘Attraction of external investments is constantly at the centre of attention of the Azerbaijan government. In spite of being a relatively young state, the country has covered a lot of ground regarding economic development during the independency period,’ said the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economic Development of Azerbaijan Natig Gasanov at the conference opening ceremony. According to him, the reforms performed in Azerbaijan during recent years are aimed at the improvement of the investment climate and legislation in this field.

Renat Lokomet, Member of the Board of Rietumu

‘Working in this region for a number of years, we can see from the example and experience of our clients that Azerbaijan is interested in the attraction of foreign investments, both at the state and private business levels. Due to considerable improvements of the investment climate, foreign companies, including Latvian ones, are expanding their presence in Azerbaijan – they are applying their experience and know-how here. At present, the most active spheres of cooperation between our countries are the banking industry, the technological and IT sectors, as well as construction,’ declared the Member of the Board of Rietumu, the leading private bank in Latvia, Renat Lokomet at the conference.

According to Mr. Lokomet, in the course of the conference, the Rietumu Bank delegation has had a series of business meetings and negotiations with representatives of business circles and the banking community of Azerbaijan, where potential projects and trends of international cooperation as well as the related practical issues have been discussed.