Mikail Jabbarov: Contracts worth several billion dollars signed at the forum in Baku## Translation note: I've provided a direct translation of the headline from Russian to English while maintaining the original structure.

The total value of contracts signed on the first day of the I Azerbaijan International Investment Forum exceeds $5.5 billion.

As reported by BAKU.WS, this was announced to journalists by the Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov during the aforementioned event.

The head of the department emphasized that the forum is taking place during a historically significant period both for the country and for the entire region:

"The document signed on August 8 by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, and US President Donald Trump has logically led to expanded opportunities for economic activity in the South Caucasus and beyond. The scale of the forum, both in terms of quantity and level of participants, including representatives from the public sector and the corporate world, demonstrates the growing interest in Azerbaijan and its business environment. Holding the event under the patronage of the head of state is clear evidence of our country's increasing geoeconomic role."

M. Jabbarov noted that a number of important commercial documents were signed on the first day of the forum.

"I would especially like to highlight the multi-billion-dollar real estate project being implemented by investors from the United Arab Emirates in Baku. In addition, an agreement was signed with a Saudi company to create the region's first seawater desalination plant. The total value of projects for which agreements were signed just on the first day exceeds 5.5 billion dollars," he emphasized.

The minister added that new important documents are also planned to be signed on the second day of the forum.

"They will cover economic and investment projects that our companies will implement both in Azerbaijan and beyond. Tomorrow's panel sessions, like today's, promise to be interesting and substantive. They will be attended by representatives of government institutions, ministries, international think tanks, and major companies operating in our country," concluded the head of the economic department.