BREAKING NEW GROUND

The first Azerbaijani-American business conference was held at the end of May at the initiative of the Azerbaijani Economic Development Ministry and the Azerbaijani Consulate General on America's West Coast. It is gratifying that this business forum took place not just anywhere, but in Los Angeles, California, where the 14-million strong population includes more than 500,000 Armenians.

A delegation led by Deputy Economic Development Minister Mikayil Cabbarov took part in the forum. The forum was opened by Azerbaijan's consul-general in Los Angeles, Elin Suleymanov, and the mayor of Beverly Hills, Jimmy Delshad. The mayor of one of the richest cities in the world emphasized his interest in cooperation with Azerbaijan, stressing the tolerance of Azerbaijani society.

Azerbaijani's Consulate General has been working for over a year in Los Angeles, where its area of responsibility covers 13 states. The diplomatic corps works hard to bring together the Azerbaijani diaspora and to raise Azerbaijan's profile as a country with great potential for cooperation and ready for mutually beneficial relations. From time to time the consulate holds various events in this regard; one of the most recent was holding an Azerbaijani Day in America.

Emil Mammadov, president of the Fund to Promote Export and Investment, shares his impressions.

The Azerbaijaini Consulate General in Los Angeles invited us to visit the country and Azpromo's supervisory council backed the idea for a number of reasons. Although the USA is a country of enormous potential and California one of the most developed states, the Azerbaijani potential in Europe and the USA is not fully represented.

We must give our Consulate General their due, as they managed to organize an interesting event and to attract a large number of companies to the business conference and to create the environment for joint discussions. In just a year of work a colossal job has been done to create a positive image of our country and to promote Azerbaijan as a country with great potential, including in the commercial sphere.

What are the initial results of your business meetings?

I can say that the representatives of many business sectors in America, both major and medium-sized, showed great interest and the members of our mission had talks with a range of potential partners. Serious contacts were made as a result of the forum. Before this trip we had just a general view of California and did not know anything about the state's specific business opportunities, so on our side we had a group of businessmen representing different sectors. 

A presentation on Azerbaijan prompted much interest amongst our American colleagues. The current state of the country was shown and the prospects for development.

Further work and joint cooperation depend on the degree of interest of business itself. If we are being objective, then it is much more profitable for our businessmen to conquer markets closer to home. But things should not always be considered purely from the commercial perspective, from the perspective of profitability. There is the concept of patriotism and we saw that Azerbaijani businessmen are firmly resolved to try to realize their ambitions today in the most developed country of the world. How do we view our business capabilities? Despite California's distance (the time difference is 12 hours), we have some specific plans and goals. We want to see Azerbaijani exports on the West Coast of America, even if only a limited range for now. At the first stage this could be traditional Azerbaijani drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. How will we find a market or sales outlets? To begin with, we could use supermarkets owned by people who are traditionally ethnically close to us, such as Turks and Iranians, that is, an already established, functioning trading network. 

Another priority area that interests us of course is technology transfer. We have to acknowledge finally that the USA is a world leader in this sphere and that we need to develop this segment of the market - technological expertise. 

There were also expectations in the banking sector, but they were not entirely realized as the Californian banks are orientated more towards the domestic market. 

A very important event for us was the reception to mark Azerbaijani Republic Day which gathered famous people whose opinion carries weight in the state. The mayor of Beverly Hills (one of the richest districts of Los Angeles) paid his compliments; there were delegations from other parts of California and greetings were read out from Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, political leaders and the mayor of Los Angeles. It should be said that the Consulate General, which organized the event, is consistently looking for allies both in the central authorities of the State of California and in the regions, actively making contact with structures that are friendly towards our country and have not been worn down by the Armenian lobby. We also saw the consulate's thorough work to bring together Azerbaijanis: an open-door policy that promotes cooperation at all levels. Our diplomatic representation is not big - it has just six people - so it is entirely logical that Azerbaijanis living in California have been brought into this process too.

Below is the opinion of Azerbaijani businessman Rahim Aladdin oglu Sultanov, chairman of the board of directors of the Caspian Service Company, about the first Azerbaijani-American business forum in Beverly Hills.

Even though this was our first business trip to the USA, we were pleasantly surprised that our American colleagues were well informed about the positive developments, the oil contracts and the overall economic potential of Azerbaijan. This is, of course, thanks first of all to the Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los Angeles, which is a sort of nucleus for the friendly, active Azerbaijani diaspora. Both Azerbaijanis who have built their businesses in the USA and American companies attended the forum, which was held in one of the most prestigious venues in Los Angeles, the Regency Club. Interest in Azerbaijan was shown at a high level: the stable political situation, high figures for economic growth and the availability of unclaimed niches on the Azerbaijani market all stimulate the interest of American investors. Our company gave a presentation on the construction sector and also outlined the opportunities for tourism. From the point of view of investment, our American colleagues were interested in the construction of hotels, recreation complexes and tourist centres. Various forms of joint cooperation are possible on the projects that we presented to build a sanatorium in Naftalan and a hotel complex in Acikand. In future these complexes could perhaps have American management, as it is no secret that we need to develop personnel for the service industry.

It was also fruitful to get to know companies that manufacture facing materials, in particular window jambs and ledges. These are not produced in Azerbaijan. American specialists are ready to install the necessary equipment to produce these materials in our country.

Any businessman who takes the future of his business seriously has an interest in using new technology. The Caspian Service Company is no exception. The consulate arranged another meeting for us, with the LEDtronics Company which uses the latest technology to produce domestic light bulbs: an ordinary 100 Watt bulb consumes only 10 Watts; this is a special technology that allows for tenfold savings in electricity. Although they are more expensive than ordinary light bulbs, this is the production of tomorrow. This company has been designing new technology for 25 years and is one of the first to specialize in manufacturing these bulbs. As these bulbs are economical and last for a long time, many countries have decided to use them. Moreover, they do not give out heat, like ordinary light bulbs, which is another convenience in a hot summer. Imagine what huge savings could be made in lighting a whole town for an evening, including advertisements and other things. Our company services new apartment blocks and so, in order to save on costs for the residents, we are planning to start using these bulbs in lighting courtyards and stairwells. We are at present in negotiations with a factory that produces the goods of interest to us. 

We are grateful to the Azerbaijani consulate for organizing these meetings to which all potentially interested companies were invited. The business forum was successful for our company. 

A similar trip is planned for our American colleagues so that they can find out about our country's business opportunities. 

The events to mark Azerbaijani Day in America - business meetings, the business forum and others - help to bring together Azerbaijanis, whose work, skill and talent are in demand today in one of the world's developed countries.

P.S. The Azerbaijani-American council opened an office in the town of Irvine during the Azerbaijani business delegation's visit. It is interesting that the opening of the council coincided with a no less significant date for us - 28 May was declared Azerbaijani Day in California's Orange County. If you bear in mind that 28 May is also Armenian Independence Day and Armenians make up a significant part of the population of the county, then we must acknowledge the good job done by our diplomats in such a short space of time in Los Angeles.