Foreign nationals currently account for 5% of employees working for energy companies operating in Azerbaijan.
“Operative Information Center-OMM” reports that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made the remarks at an event titled “Restoring trust in a fragmented world: The South Caucasus as a pillar of global connectivity and investment stability,” held in Baku as part of the 2nd Azerbaijan International Investment Forum under his patronage.
The head of state said that many Azerbaijani citizens now work for various companies at the global level:
“We are also very pleased for this reason that our representatives hold such prestigious positions. Therefore, education, training and capacity-building are extremely important. Considering that the literacy rate in Azerbaijan is close to 100%, much work has been done in education. After I was first elected president, we immediately adopted an education program in 2003. Since then, tens of thousands of students have studied abroad. Most of them returned to Azerbaijan. This is capacity-building, and it cannot be bought with money. Technology can be bought, and we do so. We have very substantial financial resources. We can buy any technology, except, naturally, classified technology. Experience is also very important. We have considerable experience in the oil and gas sector. When the first production-sharing agreement was signed in 1994, more than 90% of employees of energy companies were foreign nationals. Now, the proportion of foreign nationals is 5%.”
Azerbaijan’s energy sector has developed through international partnerships and the training of local specialists. The shift in the workforce composition cited by the president reflects the growing role of Azerbaijani professionals in the country’s oil and gas industry.
