Minister talks on safety of social networks’ users

Baku held a regular meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) on December 19.

Addressing the meeting, Ramin Guluzade, minister of transport, communications and high technologies, said that the Ministry is starting construction of a reserve DATA-center for AzInTelecom LLC, which will be based in Azerbaijan’s Yevlakh region.

Earlier, AzInTelecom LLC said the new DATA-center will make it possible to reserve data placed in the main DATA-center.

The reserve DATA-center will be commissioned before the end of the first half of 2018. Presently, the necessary equipment is being purchased.

Tables, chairs, wardrobes, beds – once a bulky share of all this items was brought to Azerbaijan from abroad including Turkey, Malaysia, Italy, Spain and Russia.

However, the field began to steadily develop in Azerbaijan about ten years ago and today the country has more than 20 companies operating under the national brand. In addition, many people are turning to private workshops to order the unique furniture.

Currently, there are thousands of large and small furniture makers in the country, economic expert Parviz Heydarov told Azernews.

The expert said that earlier people mostly preferred exported furniture, since its prices was affordable and has no alternatives. However, in a very short time, new local producers have appeared in the market and the corresponding industry was formed.

“About 80 percent of the population’s demand for furniture is covered by domestic production, according to the Statistics Committee. So, the domestic production of furniture is growing,” he said.

In January-August of 2017, the country produced industrial products for 24.8 billion manat ($14 billion), of which furniture production increased by 20.2 percent.

“This means that in our country, goods belonging to the domestic furniture industry are well-realized in comparison with their foreign analogues. The reason is that local furniture is affordable for both price and quality,” Heydarov explained.

However, the expert said that demand does not always mean that there is a purchasing power, so much depends on the payment ability. That’s why the needs of Azerbaijani population in furniture are unique, according to Heydarov.

“The per capita cost in furniture spending in Azerbaijan is relatively low compared to the European countries. In foreign countries, furniture used at home and office is changed almost every 3-4 years, while in our country, this figure is approximately 10-15 years,” he said.

Heydarov stressed that the financial situation of the citizens allows to buy mostly home-made furniture, since buying the best furniture of domestic production costs more than 1,000-2,000 manats ($591-$1,183).

The expert consider that if the government pays special attention to this industry, then in the next 5-10 years the furniture may take significant place among the well-known products under the brand “Made in Azerbaijan”.

“I think that furniture production in Azerbaijan can be further improved and developed. We have all conditions for this,”he said, adding that raw material is not a prerequisite in this matter.

The expert said that when paying attention to the world's major furniture manufacturing countries, we will witness that they also buy raw material from outside.

“For example, more than 25 percent of world wood resources, ie 1/4 of them are located in Russia ... However, the Russian furniture industry is not widely recognized compared to manufacturers from China, Slovenia, Romania, Hungary and Italy. The main factor is quality… It is possible to achieve a number of successes in this field by obtaining relevant technologies, establishing joint ventures and other means,” he said.

In general, the fact that the furniture industry has great perspective in the non-oil sector of the county is undeniable. Domestic market analysis suggests that the demand for homemade furniture products will continue to grow faster, rather than diminish, according to Heydarov, who added that this requires a special approach to the field.

“If today we can afford to pay 80 percent of our domestic demand at the expense of domestic production, then we can enter the world markets and, of course, why not to think about it. For that, we must pay big attention to quality. The competitiveness of domestic furniture with its foreign analogues should be maintained at a high level,” he said.

Meanwhile, home-made furniture, albeit in small quantities, has long been exported abroad.

Anar Mehdixanli, Director of Sale Department of Embawood company, the leading furniture producer in the country with 21-year-old experience in the market, told Azernews that the company export its products to Germany, France, Kazakhstan and African countries.

He said that the main customers of the national brands are the middle and low-income segments of the population.

In general, the expert claimed that support and incentive measures for the development of the furniture industry in the country could have had a great impact in this direction.

So, the support is fast approaching. With the goal of further development of the furniture productions sphere in the country, the Association of Furniture Manufacturers is being created in Azerbaijan, which will obtain Turkish and other countries’ experience.