The Greek capital has hosted an Azerbaijan-Greece business forum on February 17. Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Greek leader Karolos Papoulias and Premier Kostas Karamanlis attended the opening ceremony.
Co-organized by the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation and Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the event brought together representatives of over 100 Greek and about 20 Azerbaijani companies.
As in forms Azertag, the forum was opened by President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry Konstantinos Michalos who expressed confidence the gathering would serve to widen the scope of economic relations between the two countries.
Greek President Karolos Papoulias said his country is keen to develop relations with Azerbaijan. Mr. Papoulias said Greece places a particular emphasis on energy cooperation with Azerbaijan, which he described as an important exporter of energy resources and transit country.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said expanding cooperation between business circles is very beneficial for both Azerbaijan and Greece. The Azerbaijani leader said: "Talks we held and documents we signed during this trip will help our countries deepen the bilateral relations".
"We have great potential in the non-energy sector as well"
"Our economic reforms helped us become one of the world's most rapidly developing countries. We have the highest record of per capita foreign investment among CIS countries. These investments were spent both on energy and non-energy sectors" President Ilham Aliyev noted.
He said oil production grew more than five-fold in Azerbaijan over last few years, adding the country has turned from "an importer into exporter of natural gas in the last two years".
President Ilham Aliyev also touched upon the situation in the South Caucasus, saying there are potential threats to the region's stability and security. "The biggest one is the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. We want this conflict to be solved on the basis of international legal norms".
"Armenia continues to reject four UN Security Council resolutions condemning its occupation of Azerbaijani lands" the President of Azerbaijan added.
Greece's Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis stressed the importance of the Azerbaijani President's visit, saying it was a good opportunity to widely discuss bilateral, regional and international issues and also sign several documents. Mr. Karamanlis said the visit proved that both Azerbaijan and Greece are keen to develop their relationship.
The Greek Premier said his country places a special importance to expanding energy cooperation with Azerbaijan.
The forum provided an insight into business and investment climate in Azerbaijan and Greece, and featured bilateral meetings between the two countries' businessmen.
Within the framework of Greece-Azerbaijan business forum Azerbaijan Franchise Association has signed an agreement of cooperation with Greece Franchise Association. The agreement from Azerbaijan side was signed by the chairman of the board of Azerbaijan Franchise Association Mr. Elshan Musayev and from Hellenic side by Director General of Franchise Association of Greece Mr. Sotiris Yanakakis.
As Elshan Musayev noted: "The aim for signing this agreement is studying franchising experience in Azerbaijan and Greece, effective development and distribution of franchising, contribution to adaptation of foreign franchise systems to the conditions of the local markets, information exchange about the theory and experience of franchising. We want to develop small and medium entrepreneurship by using franchising in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan can improve its grossing economy by developing franchising business in the local markets and transfer its business to the world".
For the companies franchising is a way of distribution of business. For businessmen it is one of ways to become the owner of business. In the growing markets, such as Azerbaijan, franchising is the fastest way of training of businessmen to practical standards, which are necessary to conduct profitable business. Franchising is such kind of business in which the company (franchiser) transfers the independent person or the company (franchisee) the right to sale of a product and services of this company.
Azerbaijan Franchise Association was established on February 2007. The main goal of Azerbaijan Franchise Association is creating Azerbaijan's own brands and developing small and medium entrepreneurship by using franchising. Now Association works on bringing new brands from other foreign countries. On 13, September, 2007 Azerbaijan Franchise Association signed an agreement on cooperation with Baltic Franchise Association and on 7 November, 2007 with Turkish Franchise Association. AFA also cooperates with Russian, Ukrainian, and German Franchise Associations.