The Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan attended at the Kazakhstan Summit on Sustainable Development Goals

The Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov attended at the 1^st Regional Summit on Sustainable Development Goals, "Mobilizing Finance for Sustainable Development Goals". Speaking at the opening of the summit, Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov talked about the successful state policy pursued by Azerbaijan (2016-2030) on 17 approved Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 relevant UN tasks. Stressing that the national development strategy of our country coincides with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Minister said that environmental balance and progress on protecting environment, as well as economic and social development are one of our main goals today.

Informing about the current socio-economic development indicators of the country, the Minister Parviz Shahbazov said that the country's economy has grown more than three times in the last 15 years. It is also the result of a policy of sustainable development aimed at reducing poverty and unemployment, strengthening social protection of the population, implementation of numerous infrastructure projects, Indicators of the level of gasification and the accessibility of electricity, measures to be taken to improve the business environment. These achievements of Azerbaijan are also reflected in the reports of the World Economic Forum in Davos and of the World Bank's Doing Business.

The Minister noted that currently 12 strategic roadmaps have been implemented, covering 11 sectors aimed at creating a sustainable development model, and the ongoing course of deep reforms serves the country's comprehensive and sustainable development: “As stated by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, in the future, further diversification of the economy, the continuation of economic reforms will create additional opportunities for the sustainable development of our country. According to the instructions of the President of the country, measures are being taken to develop renewable energy with the involvement of private and foreign investments, switch to a competitive liberal market model in the energy sector, and to achieve energy efficiency. These measures will help Azerbaijan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35% and to increase the share of renewable energy sources in the total capacity of electricity production up to 30% by 2030, as well as contribute to global climate change.”

The Minister of Energy also participated in the panel discussions at the session entitled “Dialogue on strategic policy: is the right path chosen to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals?”.

It should be noted that the purpose of the summit, organized by the Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the UN Development Program in Kazakhstan, is to initiate a dialogue between all the sides interested in mobilizing resources to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.