PreferredBAKU. – Azerbaijan’s oligarchs who hold top official posts have discovered a new “hotbed” for investments; it is the volatile North Caucasus.
For several days, a representational group from the Azerbaijani government is holding talks with Azerbaijani businessmen in Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria, and is discussing the matter of making large investments in these regions. The Azerbaijani delegation is led by the country’s Economic Development Minister and it includes Azerbaijani oligarchs who hold senior official posts, Yeni Musavat newspaper of Azerbaijan writes.
The analysts are convinced that such developments are not coincidental, and they have two primary reasons. First, the changes after the “Arab spring” show that keeping money in offshore banks is not at all safe. So, keeping the money “right under the nose” of Azerbaijan, that is, in North Caucasus, is considered viable. And the second factor is linked to Russia, as, in this way, the Azerbaijani officials are trying to wheedle Russia. And both sides win under such circumstance. Russia would secure economic liveliness in North Caucasus while the Azerbaijani oligarchs would keep their money in a safe zone, Yeni Musavat concludes.
