Private sector projects offered in Azerbaijan

The biggest investment opportunity is a $100-million mixed-use development that will have a luxury hotel and two residential buildings in the capital Baku.

Most projects have been proposed on a joint ownership basis in a range of sectors, including consumer goods manufacturing, construction, retail, tourism, logistics and healthcare.

Heydar Ibrahimov, chairman of Sharia-compliant Kauthar Bank and the project's promoter, told Gulf News he was looking for participation from foreign investors in the project to be developed on a 16,000-square-metre site in the city.

Ibrahimov said he is also looking for investors for one resort hotel and a city hotel development.

Azerbaijan has been receiving heavy foreign direct investment in its energy sector. The influx is slowly turning the capital city of Baku into a boomtown.

Hakan Ozalpay, a Turkish businessman with diversified business interests in Azerbaijan, believes, "this is the right time to invest" in the country.

"Big energy projects have stimulated others sectors of the economy. If you are not here soon, lucrative opportunities will be gone later," he said.

About 100 business people from Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries are in Baku attending a conference organised by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

The projects range in value from $50 million to $1 million, according to a list published by the IDB.

Yesterday they discussed dozens of business plans with their counterparts from Azerbaijan. Gulf News