Four messages from President Aliyev

On the same day, during the interactive meeting on the topic "Strategic Outlook - Eurasia", President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made four messages towards the international community.

The first message concerned the diversification of the economy, i.e. economic reforms. Aliyev, like at the Davos sessions of recent years, argued that the course taken to develop the non-oil economy after a significant fall in oil prices remains the main task.

The second message touched upon the theme of the regional policy of Azerbaijan, from which it followed that the establishment of pragmatic and sincere relations with neighbors, proceeding from mutual national interests (with the exception of Armenia, which occupied part of the territories of Azerbaijan) is the best way to guarantee the security of borders.

The third message concerned democracy, human rights and freedom of speech. The President did not change his long-standing position on the interpretation of this issue, claiming full provision of fundamental rights and freedoms, calling numerous criticisms on this score the machinations of certain circles of the West.

The fourth message contained an assessment of the internal situation and politics. Aliyev said that the country does not have internal risks and threats, and Azerbaijan is a state pursuing an independent policy based on national interests.

Summarize all four messages of the president, we can come to the conclusion that in 2018 Aliyev in his policy will make the main accent in the dialogue with society and the international community on the issue of development of the non-oil economy. The latter will include, mainly, the restructuring of the management system, which was launched in 2017. He will also build up tools to ensure internal stability and security with a subsequent tendency to restrict rights and freedoms. Further attempts by "certain Western circles" on the transaction of democracy to Azerbaijan will be neutralized by the justification for the need to take into account regional security and national interests.

In fact, we can expect that it will succeed, because economic, institutional reforms and international projects of importance to the West remain a priority. It is no coincidence that at the government meeting on January 10 Aliyev relied on the results of the Global Competitiveness Index (2017-2018). According to the World Economic Forum, where Azerbaijan ranked 35th in the ranking. This argument, as a recognition of a successful policy, was widely replicated by the media.

In fact, the Index defines the national competitiveness as the ability of the country and its institutions to ensure stable economic growth rates that would be sustainable in the medium term, as well as a guide to eliminating obstacles to economic development and competitiveness.

The global index is made up of 113 variables, which detail the competitiveness of the countries of the world at different levels of economic development. All variables are combined into 12 benchmarks that determine national competitiveness:

For Azerbaijan they look like this:

In the report, the main problems are access to finance, foreign exchange regulation, tax regulation, inflation, high state bureaucracy, insufficient level of education, corruption, high tax rates, poor work ethics, high infant mortality, life expectancy, poor secondary education, low level of primary education coverage, low intensity of local competition, high trade tariffs, weak banking system, weak legal rights and low speed Internet access and others.

In principle, these drawbacks take place. This is evidenced by the ratings of various influential international institutions.

Social development

Political development

Economic development

Scientific technical development

Information communication development

Research indicators show that, with the exception of the country's capabilities, resources and declared government intentions, which are reflected in the Global Competitiveness Index, the real situation in various areas is not so good and requires immediate reform efforts.

It should also be taken into account that economic reforms, apart from political reforms, including a high degree of protection of human rights, private property, freedom of speech and the rule of law, cannot lead the country to the forefront in the ratings, because they are interdependent. Comparative analysis of ratings on indicators of Freedom and Revenues per capita of GDP is a striking example of this. Azerbaijan ranks the 188th in terms of freedoms, and 123rd ($ 4,760) per capita GDP. Algeria, respectively, 15st and 128th ($ 4270), Denmark, respectively, 11th and 13th ($ 56,700), Sweden, respectively, 3rd and 16th ($ 54630). This list of negative and positive dynamics could be continued. It should also be taken into account that Azerbaijan and Algeria belong to the energy resource countries, the Scandinavian to the countries without resources. Without considering the resources, the picture would be much sadder. In principle, this experience was demonstrated by Azerbaijan, which first began to slide into the back positions in the ratings of Freedom, and then the income of the population, which collapsed not only because of the fall in oil prices, but also the devaluation of the values ​​of rights and freedoms.