Today, in the example of the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park, we see a renewing and strengthening Azerbaijan.

Industrialization is an essential component of the economic policy of President Ilham Aliyev. The main objective is to expand the share of local products in meeting domestic demand, to increase the export potential and to reduce further the dependence on the oil and gas factor in general. The success of this strategy can be seen in the statistics of the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park. The Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park is registering positive dynamics in the production and export of products now. In general, over the past year the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park manufactured products worth 823 million manats, of which 276 million manats were exported. In six months of the current year, the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park manufactured products worth 534 million manats, and its share in the total volume of products manufactured in the country's non-oil industry (5.7 billion manats) amounted to 9.3 percent. Products worth 182 million manats have been exported and its share in the exports of non-oil industrial products (910 million manats) is 20 percent. More than 5,500 people are provided with permanent jobs at the enterprises operating in the park. General development tendency of Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park is distinguished with its attitude to novelties. The Vocational Education Center, just have been opening under it, can also be distinguished in this regard. During his speech at the inauguration of the Vocational Education Center under the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park on September 14, 2020, Mr. President Ilham Aliyev said that: “It’s for the first time that a vocational education institution is established in the area of the industrial park of the country, so several strategic goals are achieved. Students will be engrained skills and vocational habits in line with the era in the center with modern infrastructure. Specialists that will attend in the educational process will be of highly skilled employees of the park residents. Students also will have opportunity to get a job by interning in enterprises of the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park. We must, as far as possible, meet the domestic demand with local products. The city of Sumgayit, in particular, the Chemical Industry Park, plays a vital role in this. Because, having done this work in recent years, we have achieved this to a large extent. The main task now is to find out where we have the most significant dependence on imports, and if substitution is possible and there are raw materials for this or a feasibility study allows that, then it is imperative to pay attention to these sectors. Companies showing such an initiative should be granted resident status and the government should provide them with assistance, provide low-interest loans so that we can reduce our dependence on imports as much as possible. After all, any country strives for this, in particular, a country with a growing population – Azerbaijan should seek just that”. A glass production plant will also start operating here this year. Significant investments have also been made there and it will provide the domestic demand. To maintain the balance of payments at a positive level, we need enterprises that produce high-quality export products, of course, and bring in foreign currency. Because the positive balance of payments today is maintained mainly due to the oil and gas factor. At the inauguration of the center Mr. President stated that: “We must try, leaving aside this factor, to always have a positive balance in export-import operations. Therefore, it is imperative to create export-oriented manufacturing industries capable of replacing imports. A cigarette factory has started functioning in the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park and our statistics already show how much the dependence on imports has decreased. Before the launch of this factory, we mostly depended on imports. Today we have saved 300 million manats. I see this factory in the future as an exclusively export-oriented enterprise, and there are many such examples. We currently have a tobacco production and quality equipment. Why some countries that do not produce tobacco export products to us? They buy tobacco abroad, then process and sell it. We also depend on foreign tobacco in the production of cigarettes. However, the task has been set: to buy products from local tobacco growers to give impetus to the development of agriculture. If we can mobilize all these factors in the right direction, then the flow of investment to Azerbaijan will not stop. This is our primary goal. The global recession, which deepened further due to the pandemic, has undoubtedly affected many companies. However, it is in this context that we take steps to be among the countries most prepared for the post-pandemic period and to have a new development dynamic immediately and without delay”. As Mr. President said – Sumgayit is the second-largest industrial center not only in Azerbaijan but also in the South Caucasus today. Sumgayit’s potential is getting stronger day by day. Today, in the example of the Sumgayit Chemical Industry Park, we see a renewing and strengthening Azerbaijan.