On May 18, 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the country's largest brewing company Carlsberg Azerbaijan.

The signing took place online with the attendance of the Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov, representatives of the State Service for Antimonopoly Policy and Consumer Market Control under the Ministry of Economy, as well as Vice President of the Carlsberg Group for Central and Eastern Europe Lars Lehmann, General Director of Carlsberg Azerbaijan Vyacheslav Maltsev and regional representatives of the Carlsberg Group.

According to the MOU, Carlsberg Azerbaijan has plans to invest more than 25 million manat in commercial projects aimed at localizing the raw material base, modernizing the enterprise, reducing losses and improving workplace safety, exporting beer produced in the country, as well as developing production in 2021-2025.

The sides also agreed to cooperate in export projects in a view to increase the competitiveness of "Made in Azerbaijan" products.

Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov said: “The new development and investment plans of Carlsberg Azerbaijan in our country deserve attention. The document signed today is the fulfillment of the instructions of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev following his meeting with the CEO of Carlsberg Group Cees't Hart in Davos in 2020. We appreciate the company's program to expand its activities in Azerbaijan, localize the raw material base and switch to a production process based on innovative technologies. The MOU serves several purposes. In this way, the company intends to significantly reduce imports of raw materials by 2025 by supporting the production of malting barley in Azerbaijan. Expansion and localization of production will also increase export opportunities and promote employment. The Ministry of Economy is ready to support the increase in the export potential of the company, cooperating within the framework of export support mechanisms. This cooperation will serve to increase the export of products under the brand name "Made in Azerbaijan" to foreign markets and ensure their competitiveness”.

Lars Lehmann, Carlsberg Group Vice President for Central and Eastern Europe, said: “The Memorandum signed between the Ministry of Economy and Carlsberg Azerbaijan is a bright illustration of business support in Azerbaijan. The openness of the state to dialogue, the level of cooperation with business, the struggle against the "shadow economy" enable the development of our business. This approach to the dialogue between government and business in Azerbaijan is an indicator of the forward-looking policy of the Azerbaijani leadership, which will certainly bear fruit in the near future”.

Vyacheslav Maltsev, General Director of Carlsberg Azerbaijan, said: “I have been living and working in Azerbaijan for almost four years. As the head of business in Azerbaijan, I see real progress year after year in the dialogue between business and government, as well as in market transparency, customer service in daily life, etc. Undoubtedly, this is also the result of the effective and accurate efforts of the Ministry of Economy to support business, regardless of sector and scale. We are very happy that the main regulatory body and stakeholder in the government is our main partner and supporter. This bolsters confidence in the expansion of our business in Azerbaijan in the future.