"Holding the Baku Shopping Festival for the second time is a good opportunity to strengthen the country’s economy," Italian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Augusto Massari told to Eurasia Diary.
Eurasia Diary: What is the importance of Baku Shopping Festival for Azerbaijan and how it will affect the development of tourism and entrepreneurship in the country, specially in Azerbaijan and in the region?
Mr.Augusto Massari: Currently, Azerbaijan is improving its economy trying to diversify its domestic and foreign markets. Baku Shopping Festival is an incredible opportunity to match supply and demand on different goods and services such as electronics, clothes, cosmetics and more. By doing this, Azerbaijan is entitled to enter into the list of countries that attract tourists from all over the region to find incredibly high quality goods. It is an incredible opportunity to balance supply and demand, making producers able to recognize the tastes of the customers. This would refine the industrial production and make Azerbaijan more competitive on international markets.
Eurasia Diary: Will this festival lead to an influx of tourists from various countries to Azerbaijan? And what steps should be taken in order to achieve it?
Mr.Augusto Massari: Absolutely! Let’s make an example: there is a very famous street in Milan – Montenapoleone street – where there are shops of the most prestigious brands of made in Italy and more. Well, a great number of tourists come to Milan just to take a look and purchase from Montenapoleone’s shops! Baku Shopping Festival is the first step to do the same in Azerbaijan, focusing on quality of goods and make it attractive. I particularly like, as all costumers, I suppose, the “tax free” strategy: goods are sold at cost prices, that means that people will probably prefer to spend their money in Azerbaijan – finding high quality and low costs – rather than other markets. I hope that this successful strategy will affect the entire trade market in Azerbaijan!
Ayaz Mirzayev
