Page 69 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

E.Ahmadov: Azerbaijan from innovative governance to green economy

Figure 3. Non-oil economy share in GDP in Azerbaijan (%)

40
32

24
13.8 14.9 13.6 15.7
16 9.9 8.7 8.3 11.8 11.3 7.9 9.4 9.6 9.9 6.9

8 3.2
1.1
0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Source: Own construction according to compiled by the author according to the
Central Bank of Azerbaijan

The concept of green economies has emerged in recent years as a widely
accepted shift from traditional thinking, in which environmental protection and
management was viewed as being separate from economic development. It is now
recognized that future economic development must be linked to both environmental
and social pillars. A green economy must benefit coastal communities in developing
states who depend on a healthy ocean for their survival. Healthy oceans are essential
for the sustainable development of millions of people. Therefore, the concept of a
green economy needs to be extended to a blue-green economy [9]. In this concern
also Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan coastal area is of great importance according to
green economy transformation progress. Population dynamics also have a critical
influence on social, economic and environmental development and consideration of
them needs to be central to any future development agenda [10].
Besides the weightless economy is also a knowledge based economy and
considered to be a part of contribution to the green economy, where knowledge is
widely traded as an intangible product, not just used as a tool to manufacture
physical products. Software, databases and intellectual property are some examples
of weightless economy. There are only two avenues still open for the continual
betterment of a society, once its resources have been allocated to maximise the
economic welfare of its citizens. The first is expropriation: a society can plunder the
economic achievements of other societies. The second is technical progress: a
society can utilise continuing developments in the arts and sciences to improve the
lives of its citizens. The former option is neither clever nor subtle. More crucially, it
is self-liquidating: it cannot result in sustained improvement [5]. Therefore,

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