Cultural and creative industries reach 1% of Azerbaijan’s GDP, official says

Cultural and creative industries account for 1% of Azerbaijan’s gross domestic product, Rashad Azizov, director general of the Azerbaijan Film Agency, said.

Speaking at the Business Dialogue panel of the seventh World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku, Azizov said employment and the number of businesses in the sector had increased in recent years. He did not provide growth figures or specify the period covered by the GDP estimate.

Azizov said Azerbaijan had introduced a national classification system for cultural and creative industries and a film cash rebate mechanism to reimburse part of film production costs.

He also outlined plans to extend the model of Baku’s Cultural and Creative Industries Development Centre to the country’s regions. He did not specify a timetable or funding.

Incubation programmes for gaming and cultural technologies, scholarships, professional training and grants for non-governmental organisations were supporting the sector’s development, Azizov said.