President Aliyev holds meetings with businesspeople in Davos PHOTO

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has embarked on a visit to the Swiss Confederation to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

On January 17, President Ilham Aliyev met with the Chief Executive Officer and shareholder of the Dutch “Damen Shipyards Group” Arnout Damen in Davos, Caliber.Az reports, citing President.Az.

During the conversation, the head of state`s previous meeting with Arnout Damen was recalled.

Arnout Damen said that they have started the implementation of projects in Azerbaijan, and highlighted the work done.

President Ilham Aliyev hailed the fact that “Damen Shipyards Group” has recently started implementing projects in Azerbaijan.

The sides emphasized that there are good opportunities for the company to do a wider scope of work in Azerbaijan.

Noting that Azerbaijan has become an important transit country, the head of state pointed out that the volume of cargo passing through the territory of the country has increased by 75 per cent. President Ilham Aliyev stated that taking into account all this, there is a need to increase the number of new tankers, dry cargo ships and ferries in Azerbaijan. The head of state underlined that there is also a good potential for cooperation with “Damen Shipyards Group” in this field.

They also discussed the issues related to the possibility of manufacturing various ships for the Azerbaijan Naval Forces.

In the meantime, the next meeting of President Aliyev in Davos was with Senior Vice President and Global Innovation Officer of CISCO Guy Diedrich on the same day.

During the meeting, the sides hailed the long-term successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and CISCO.

Guy Diedrich said that they implemented a digitalization project in one of the schools in Azerbaijan.

During the conversation, it was emphasized that this project is planned to cover hundreds of schools in Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that the "Smart City" and "Smart Village" projects have been successfully implemented in the Zangilan district, and stressed that these works are also planned to be carried out in other territories liberated from occupation.

The head of state expressed his gratitude for the "Report on the smart city structure of Azerbaijan" prepared by CISCO.

During the conversation, the sides talked about the application of CISCO technologies in water resources management in Azerbaijan and discussed prospects for cooperation in the fields of education and cybersecurity.

The last meeting of the president on January 17 in Davos was with the Executive Chairman of “Fortescue Future Industries” Andrew Forrest.

The sides noted that the memorandum signed last month between the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan and “Fortescue Future Industries” provided for the implementation of a project on the production of 12,000 megawatts of wind and solar energy in Azerbaijan. They also stressed the importance of the signing of the “Agreement on a strategic partnership in the field of green energy development and transmission between the Governments of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary” in Bucharest. The sides noted the significance of delivering through this project the green energy produced in Azerbaijan to the European market in the future.

During the conversation, they emphasized the importance of cooperation in the implementation of a project on the production of hydrogen, including green hydrogen in Azerbaijan.

It was noted that the memorandums of understanding and agreements signed by Azerbaijan with international energy companies will enable the country to produce up to 22,000 megawatts of wind and solar energy. It was underlined that the production of 12,000 megawatts of that energy is planned to be carried out by SOCAR and “Fortescue Future Industries”.

A favourable investment climate in Azerbaijan was highlighted during the conversation.

They said that Azerbaijan has rich renewable energy potential, and exchanged views on the prospects for cooperation.