Azerbaijan enjoys favorable conditions for doing business and the business activities are very successful in the country, Chairman of the Center for Economic and Social Development, Vugar Bayramov said.

“This is because of the growth of incomes of population,” he told local media.

Non-oil industry in Azerbaijan has developed rapidly. GDP has increased by 16 times over the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the average salary of the nation has increased by twenty-fold over the last 20 years.

“All macroeconomic indicators favor the profitability of doing business in Azerbaijan. At a recent governmental meeting, the head of state also gave instructions to eliminate cases of interference in business activities. This will create an opportunity to expand business in Azerbaijan,” the expert noted.

The taxation of business in Azerbaijan enjoys more favorable conditions than in Europe.

“This applies particularly to the income tax,” Bayramov said. “The highest income tax rate of the country is below twice the European average. In this regard, all legislative and practical conditions have already been created for the development of business in Azerbaijan. It is necessary to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles and unlawful interference in business.”

Recently, Azerbaijan’s economy has improved its position in the world’s leading economic reports and now it is among the advanced countries.

The World Bank (WB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) ranked Azerbaijan 70th out of 189 countries in Doing Business 2014 rating.

According to the report, as a result of the implementation of 18 targeted reforms on regulations and the improvement of legislation in the area of improving the business climate, Azerbaijan’s economy has entered the list of top 15 countries of the world.

The Doing Business 2014 report also included Azerbaijan in the list of 29 reformist countries thanks to its reforms in the “starting a business”, “construction permits”, and “international trade” spheres carried out in the country in 2012-2013.

The Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) for 2014 – 2015 released by the World Economic Forum identifies that Azerbaijan continues to move up in the list and take the 38th position out of 144 economies by improving one rank as compared to 2013.

Azerbaijan is even leading most of the European Union (EU) member states such as Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Malta, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Croatia, and Greece.

Azerbaijan leaves behind all the countries in the region, including Turkey, which ranked at the 45th position.

The report stipulates the strengths of Azerbaijan’s competitiveness in the area of macroeconomic environment, which is placed in the best position ranked at the 9th position out of 144 countries and followed by labor market efficiency ranked at the 33rd.

In terms of competitiveness, Azerbaijan could indeed play a model country’s role and act as a platform for knowledge sharing with the countries in the region.