AzerNews: Wilson Center Advisor says incredible development in Azerbaijan economy

While attending a high-level conference in Baku, Wilson Center Advisor to Global Europe Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Alexandros Petersen praised transformation of Azerbaijan`s economy in an interview with the State Telegraph Agency (AzerTAc).

Petersen, the author of "The World Island: Eurasian Geopolitics and the Fate of the West", said, "I first visited Baku in the 1990s. The city has changed a lot since then. I've been many times to Baku since then and it`s amazing to see the transformation of Azerbaijan's economy going not just from being a petrol state, but now being an increasingly diverse economy."

"It's amazing to see the incredible development and infrastructure development that has been going on here, he continued. "So I have great optimism for the future in terms of Azerbaijan's development not just in terms of buildings, infrastructure and the sort of things, but increasingly becoming a centre for intangible things like human capital, the center for technological development and innovation, and the bridge between East and West."

He continued, "We say like many this cliché that Azerbaijan is the bridge between East and West. But I think it is increasingly becoming the case in ways that it is not just about the infrastructure. It's increasingly about the substance and the people of Azerbaijan, who are, I think, achieving their great potential."  MORE