What does 2017 bring for Azerbaijan?

Restoration of economic growth, implementation of large infrastructure projects and large-scale regional and international summits in Baku are the most memorable things for Azerbaijan in 2017, experts said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, summing up the results of this year.

MP of the Milli Majilis, political scientist Asim Mollazade highlighted the fact thast Azerbaijani economy overcame recession, calling it the main result of 2017. "This year economy began to slowly recover. Diversification of the economy allowed us to make up for what we lost in previous years. At the same time this year was pretty calm. It was the year of hope, hope that next years will be even better," he said.

He said that the launch of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was the event of the year for Azerbaijan. "There's no doubt that this project makes 2017 one of the best years for us," he noted.

Professor of the Western University Fikret Sadykhov said that 2017 was full of important political events for Azerbaijan. "We implemented many projects, including such large-scale, trans-regional project as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, which ensures transport independence of the European continent in terms of diversification of routes," he stressed.

"In addition, very important meetings between presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran, presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey were held. Very important decisions were made during these meetings, related to the development of the region and implementation of regional projects that meet the interests of all these states," he said.

Political scientist Rovshan Ibrahimov also highlighted Azerbaijan's economic growth. "This year we recovered from recession of the economy that began in 2016. 2017 will be remembered for the fact that special attention was paid to the development of the non-oil sector. The priority was given to the transport sector, the long-awaited Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project," he noted.

"Moreover, after trilateral meetings between presidents of Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan, construction of a railroad through Iran was launched, which will become a part of the North-South transport corridor. Azerbaijan's role in this is very important. The republic gave 500 million loan to Iran for this construction," he pointed out.