Business Dialogue – 7th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue (Baku, Azerbaijan)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the business dialogue taking place as part of this extremely important global forum on our ability to work together as nations around culture and the importance that we have of coming together in the leadership of Azerbaijan in doing that. This morning, I had the great privilege of listening to the President of Azerbaijan share with us the important power that a country has as a crossroads, as a place to bring people together from different cultures, from different backgrounds, and we are extremely honored to be the guests of this country and indeed his leadership in doing this. And so, I think it's extremely right and fitting and appropriate that to begin this business dialogue today, we hear from two voices here in Azerbaijan who are indeed our hosts. And in particular, I'm very, very proud to invite to join us first this morning for some opening comments, my new friend, Rashad Azizov. And Rashad, I want to tell you, has been a prominent leader here, and when I talk to many of the people we've worked with, Rashad, in Azerbaijan, they tell us, you are really part of the core institutional knowledge of how we translate culture and entrepreneurship into prosperity and opportunity. So thank you so much, indeed. We're delighted to have you here.

Thank you, Jonathan. It's a great pleasure to be here. I will continue my opening speech in Azerbaijani language, if you don't mind.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues and friends, on behalf of the Azerbaijan Public Culture Ministry, I welcome you on a very important panel of business dialogue in the framework of the 7th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue. In the modern world, we see that different fluctuations happen, meaning that there are wars, there are conflicts, geopolitical clashes, and different misunderstandings, and AI, as the fourth industrial revolution, brings some separations and also damages to the world. In such conditions, seventh World Forum's mission is much more significant than in previous years. This is the seventh World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue. When we compare it with the previous forums, we can see there is a heritage with common values, with common living discussions. We shift towards discussing about the solutions and resolving of the problems and issues and conflicts that are taking place in the world today. We need to understand that the mutual understanding, the bridge-building activities should be encouraged by the participants, the players of this forum, to also develop the intercultural dialogue. Xenophobia, climate change, world peace, and global changes. These are just a few of the multiple and many other subjects where the forum covers in two days event. Talking about the development of the international relationships, the entrepreneurs, entrepreneurships, the talented and innovative persons role becomes more significant. Common projects, business partnerships, and common goal gathers the entrepreneurs and actually creates by itself a specific diplomacy for its directions. And the main idea of today's event, when we talk about more entrepreneurs and also becoming diplomats in their spheres and industries, is very important. Entrepreneurs are not only producing the goods and providing the services, they're also making the new connections and also build bridges between the cultures and also bring benefits to the economies of their countries. In this case, Azerbaijan has a great capacity. Our country for many ages was the home for many cultures and creating the tradition of the trades and also making the transit road for different roads of the traders. from other countries and regions, but also for the art people and people of other industries. And this is the approach as the foundation of the culture and also sustainable development of the country is very significant. In this regards, there were significant legislative steps taken into account. One of them on 20 2022, social economical development strategy was signed, and this paper provides the good background as well as the foundation for the development of the agricultural area. And also Azerbaijan culture up to 2040. as one of the main priorities signed by the Mr. President of the Republic, and also some amendments to the law on the culture of Azerbaijan made provision for strengthening the base for the foundation of this structure. And also the national qualifications and classifications of the cinema producers is also being applied. Azerbaijan in education, in human capital, and in the creative capital development are the targets where the country pays big attention to its development. There are different scholarships, different rewards, and grant supports provided for the new generation of the country in developing these areas. At the same time, the industries of development of the culture and the creativities, and that also considers expanding the area of its development. Within the country, thanks to the policy that wisely was put in place, it made increasing the number of the business subjects, and also in our We see that GDP is also increased up to 1%. The Panel of Business Dialogue in this regard is not just a thought exchange platform, but also a platform for creating new connections and also elaborating the mutual projects for all sides' benefits. It also creates a good opportunity for involving the investments to the country and also from the country for the long lasting development and cooperation between the participants of this panel. Therefore, all the thoughts that are going to be expressed in this panel are a great opportunity for us to consider and use for the collaboration. I think after the panel, also during the framework of the whole forum, the connections and the networking and the collaboration will continue. I wish success to the panel work. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you very much indeed, and I think it's right and fitting that we've heard from you this morning from the Ministry of Culture. As you know, this business dialogue is also co-hosted by the Ministry of the Economy. And I'm very, very honored to say, representing the Ministry of the Economy, we have Farid Jafarov, who's going to make a few comments this morning and share with us a little bit more information. So we look forward to welcome you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Just a very small correction. I'm Hussein Saino, not Farid Jafarov. Farid Jafarov, Deputy Minister of Culture. Okay, thank you very much, Jonathan. Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it's really, really great pleasure today to join you today at the Business Dialogue Panel of 7th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue. And I'd like to express my appreciation to Minister of Culture and all partners who's involved in organizing this forum for providing us opportunity to highlight the role of business in fostering intercultural dialogue and cooperation. Since its launch in 2008, at the initiative of His Excellency Mr. President Ilham Aliyev, the Baku Process has played an important role in promoting dialogue and mutual understanding among different cultures. The World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue held since 2011, has emerged as a prominent international platform for advancing these objectives. Ladies and gentlemen, today's theme highlights an important dimension of international relations. As mentioned by my friend Rashad, entrepreneurs also play a significant role in building bridges across borders, fostering dialogue, and strengthening mutual understandings. Every cross-border business partnership, whether with a supplier, customer or investor, require effective communication, respect for different culture and business practices, and above all is mutual trust. Over time, this relationship contribute to closer ties between countries and societies, while long-term economic partnership create shared interest and a commitment to mutual success. Against a backdrop of growing geopolitical tensions and economic fragmentation, the importance of such connections become even more evident. Trade barriers and supply chain disruptions create additional cost and uncertainty for business community. However, established commercial ties, joint investment, and shared economic interest can help sustain dialogue, preserve channels and cooperation, and encourage mutually beneficial solutions. In this sense, entrepreneurs serve as important bridges between economies and cultures, complementing traditional diplomacy through practical cooperation and lasting partnerships. Distinguished partners, Participant, Azerbaijan has undertaken comprehensive economic reforms aimed at improving the business environment, strengthening the role of private sector, and expanding opportunity for international cooperation. The efforts are contributing to the diversification of economy. In the first nine months of 2026, the non-oil and gas sector accounted over 70% of gross domestic product. A recent example of Azerbaijan's commitment to fostering international investment partnership was the second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum held in Baku last month. With a particular focus on rebuilding trust and strengthening regional connectivity, the forum provided an important platform for dialogue between government, investment, and business leaders. The forum resulting in signing 23 cooperation and investment documents covering project valued 10.8 million US dollars. The next important step is to translate this arrangement agreements into tangible projects while creating opportunity for local businesses to participate in implementation, including as supplier and service providers. Ladies and gentlemen, regional organizations also play an important role in strengthening ties between business communities. The SME working groups and business councils provide valuable platform for dialogue between business and public institutions. For example, Azerbaijan serve as a country coordinator at the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization working group on SME for 2026-2028. Similarly, the Organization of Turkic States through the Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Turkic Business Council help businesses establish direct contacts and develop cross-border partnerships. Such mechanisms are particularly important for SMEs, which often lack of access to finance, financing reliable partners when they're entering new markets. Azerbaijan supports these efforts with a focus on cross-border trade, digitalization, the green transition, integration into international supply chain. We have also established bilateral business councils, including with Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam. Through business meetings, investment promotion, and business missions, they help companies find reliable partners, explore new markets, and develop joint projects. Ultimately, their effectiveness is measured not only by the meetings they have convened, by the lasting partnership and tangible projects they generate. At the national level, Azerbaijan is implementing targeted measures to strengthen competitiveness for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs and expand their access to international markets. In the first nine months of 2026, non-oil and gas exports, excluding non-monetary gold, increased by 20.5%. To further support export growth, new mechanisms have been introduced to reduce the cost associated with accessing foreign markets. This includes state coverage up to 70% of transportation costs for eligible non-oil and gas exports, as well as partial compensation of customs clearance fees for micro, small, and medium-sized exporters. Access to affordable finance is another important element of our support for entrepreneurs. In the first nine months of 2026, the Azerbaijan Business Development Fund, which operates under the Minister of Economy, reportedly provided nearly 246 million in concessional loans to support more than 4,000 projects. Distinguished guests, the Ministry of Economy remains committed to fostering a favorable business environment, supporting entrepreneurship, and strengthening international economic partnership. We look forward to continuing engagements with the international business community and encourage our partners to explore the investment and trade opportunities available in Azerbaijan, including through joint ventures with Azerbaijani companies. I believe that today's discussion will provide valuable insight and open new avenue for practical cooperation. Above all, I hope this will reinforce our shared understandings, the lasting business partnership which build not only economic interests, but also emotional trust, respect, and dialogue. I wish you all the best. Thank you for your attention.

Now, I know we'll be friends for a long time because he will never forgive me for Mr. Hussein Husseinov. I now know that I apologize. We just met and we got that information a little bit late, so I apologize about that. So thank you very much, Mr. Huseynov, and thank you very much, Rashid, for setting the context, both from the cultural perspective and from the economic perspective. Well, just to let you know what we're going to do today, we're going to give you a very short video understanding how culture is getting interpreted with a project here in Azerbaijan. We're then also going to begin our panel and discussion dialogue. I'll share some of my thoughts. We're going to give you a short video about what we did yesterday in our working session, and then we'll dig into our conversation with our panelists for this dialogue. So without further ado, I think we can play this video. Thank you.

Systematic and substantial activities in the field of culture and creative industries were initiated by the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev. Updated July 22, 2022. Our main objectives are to ensure sustainable development in the relevant fields, strengthen human capital, and increase export potential. The key clusters operating within the scope of Culture and Creative Industries include: Cultural Heritage, Archives and Libraries, Books, Publishing and Press, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Audiovisual Activities and Multimedia, architecture, advertising, handicrafts, and education in the field of culture. Our activities encompass a wide range of stages, including awareness raising and training, education and skills enhancement, idea generation, incubation, investment attraction and acceleration, and business scaling. The Ministry of Culture's activities for the development of cultural and creative industries are planned based on a unified approach. For this purpose, a matrix covering various fields has been developed. This matrix serves as a basis for the planning, financing, and monitoring of projects. To expand the cultural and creative industries ecosystem and discover new talents, the Creative Talks project has been launched. The special scholarship program for culture and creative industries aims to support the training of professional personnel and promote specialization. Within the framework of the strategy, modern and competitive certification programs have been conducted with the participation of local and international experts. One of the most significant achievements in the field of culture and creative industries has been the establishment of a modern and competitive creative infrastructure. New centers are planned in Ganja, the Karabakh region, and Nakhchivan. along with the Cinema Industry Park at Azerbaijan Film Studio. With state support, 10 feature films are produced every year, involving more than 30 companies and creating over a thousand jobs. Introduced in 2025, the cash rebate attracts international productions like "Armor of God: Ultimatum," the largest ever filmed in Azerbaijan. At the Creative Center, five business incubation programs have been conducted in the fields of cultech, gametech, and music, turning more than 30 early-stage startups and new business entities into residents. The Creative Market project is a dynamic platform designed to showcase and sell artisans' products to a wide local and international audience. Within the framework of the "Invest to Create" project initiated by the Ministry, startups can join business incubation programs and receive support for entering and expanding in international markets. MyExpo, the G-Hub platform in Shusha, and the Turkic Animation Association take Azerbaijan's creative industries to international audiences. Between 2022 and 2025, business entities in the creative industries grew by over 17%, enterprises by almost a quarter, service exports more than tripled, and the sector's share of GDP reached 1%. Since this area was declared a strategic priority by the country's leadership, a growth trend in statistical indicators related to culture and creative industries has been observed.

How many of you have visited this wonderful facility? Put up your hand if you've been there. Okay, well, I'm glad we played this video because I visited it last night with a number of international colleagues. It is just fantastic. You should really take advantage of it. It's a treasure here in Baku, and congratulations to your leadership in making this possible. So now you understand why Azerbaijan is an appropriate place for us to have this conversation. But allow me to switch to why we're having this conversation in the context of the 7th Forum on Intercultural Dialogue. We are living in very, very difficult times. in terms of the relationship between our peoples, our cultures, and our nations. Today we're going to talk in particular, in this business dialogue, about the creative industries. But before we come to that, I want to look at specifically more broadly, what is this unique role of these entrepreneurs in this discussion around intercultural dialogue and this discussion around peace and prosperity that we're having here this week. And in particular, I have a couple of thoughts that I want to share with you, that I shared with our team yesterday. I think it's coming up in just one second. But I'm very keen to stress that we often look at entrepreneurs in terms of profit, marketing, spreadsheets, revenues. But you know, the majority of entrepreneurs that we meet, and I must say we meet many entrepreneurs, being a global nonprofit focusing on entrepreneurship, that's not really what got them involved in the first place. They're a very positive, creative crowd. They're people that look to build. They look to form teams. They want to figure out better ways of doing things. And they want to just not improve their own opportunity, they want to improve the opportunity of those around them. So entrepreneurs have this very unique quality. Of course, to our economists, we know that they create almost all the net new jobs, because these young firms hire people, generally speaking, bigger, older firms with boards of directors need to do it with fewer people. We know that they solve problems, and we know that they build our economies. But let's look at two factors, I think, that are sometimes underrepresented and underappreciated. Number one, I would argue that this forum takes place because we think that entrepreneurs, in many respects, are the new diplomats for peace in a very fractured world. And secondly, They bring a very unique quality at a time when our world is being disrupted by artificial intelligence. They bring human agency. Let's talk about what that means. I want to pinpoint a couple of things that you already know that are happening in the world. Number one, many of our governments are getting disrupted. They're operating very differently to how they were even as little as two years ago. Number two, Many of you have seen that global development assistance, often looked at by the developed economies of the north, like the programs like United States, USAID, but we've seen that development assistance has contracted by indeed the largest margin ever recorded in a single year. Number three, we see the wealthy economies of our society becoming a little bit more selfish, certainly self-serving, and they're directing their funds on other, shall I say, inward priorities, domestic priorities. Fourthly, you've heard it this morning in our dialogue with the president of your country. We heard this important message from everybody that we are indeed in the middle of a rise of geopolitical tension. It's flaring up over everything, from immigration and tariffs, as I mentioned there, to trade and territory. Finally, I think we want to look at the fact that as a result of this conflict, we're seeing fragmentation, which has made what trade and capital and talent used to flow smoothly across the world. In fact, at Gen. we always had started with a mission saying, "We're building one global entrepreneurial ecosystem." Our maps in our offices do not have national boundaries to them. We look at people who form teams, create and solve problems. But the trouble is that capital and that talent no longer flows because we're chasing ideas and we're trying to improve our world and create opportunity for all. We now find that that occurs because it's organized more on political lines. Those are things that you knew about, two different things that I think make these traits of entrepreneurs particularly important. You know, I work for an organization that works in 200 countries. We have people that build investor capacity in poor countries. We have many, many angel investor networks. We have people that help more than a million founders in all markets and industries. We work with 100 governments on developing their strategy for enabling new firm formation and increasing the rates of new firm formation. And we work a lot directly with the accelerators and the ecosystem communities that enable and support them. So we work on a lot of things, we get to see a lot of things. And one of the things we were most proud about as a nonprofit operating on the global stage was that over the last 19 years, We've seen an increase in opportunity. In places where there was often plenty of talent but not a lot of opportunity, we've seen extraordinary opportunity arise. Every city, every nation wants to be a start-up nation. They want to say, "You would thrive here as an entrepreneur. Come here." The challenge is, the data tells us in our own report released in Paris, the Global Startup Ecosystem Report, over the last years of data, and we deal with very recent data, tells us that two things have happened. Number one, oddly, we have indeed seen extraordinary increases in entrepreneurial activity. But number two, the contradiction is that it's been concentrated in just three American cities, 67% of that entrepreneurial activity and that capital is flowing to three cities. So we're seeing, so to speak, a retraction of opportunity in economies which maybe aren't benefiting, in particular, from deep tech and AI funding. So these are very important problems. So who solves them? I wanted to give you, in addition to the big problems that you're already familiar with, this new one of concentration. The people that solve them are the entrepreneurs in all the other economies apart from those three cities. They are you and me and the leaders in our field who can take on the responsibility of being the new diplomats. We can reach across the divides of this fractured world. And we have a lot of things in common with each other. I often tell people at our own big annual meeting, the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, which by the way, the next one's going to be not too far from here in Doha in March, and you're all welcome as our guests. But we will, at that meeting, I often tell people, come in, we often have 7,000, 8,000 leaders from around the world, and I tell them, you know what, leave your passport at the door, pick up any passport on the way out, and you will be among friends when you get to wherever that passport takes you. It is a common culture of building, of creating, of creating opportunity. It's not a culture of destruction, of divide. And so it is a very powerful force, entrepreneurship, in what we are trying to do. And finally, the other thing that entrepreneurs bring to us is human agency. They have the ability to act, to initiate, to move first, to make decisions with incomplete information. As we often say, they build airplanes in the air. They don't treat things the way they are as the things they need to remain. They're impatient, they're doers, they test ideas. And, you know, at the end of the day, this notion of the word entrepreneur, the French word, of course, meaning to undertake, it means it can be a habit that can be coached. And so, I think the notion of agency, and I wanted to define what I meant by agency, but this notion of agency is something that we see in this entrepreneurial generation. And I think they're very powerful traits that entrepreneurs have that will be huge forces in tackling of what actions do we take in addressing, trying to resolve some of these disagreements that many of our nations have among each other. So I'll leave you with this thought. When you came in here and you thought, it's all about profit and business and economic growth, yes, indeed, entrepreneurs, they do do that, and that is part of what we do at Gen. We measure our work by increasing rates of new firm formation and economies all over the world. But I want to tell you, it's not just something of narrow commercial significance. It is important because entrepreneurs represent the possibility of human endeavor. They represent the possibility of restoring international understanding among peoples across the world at times when often our own leaders indeed must divide us often over the issues of the day. And entrepreneurs, they can take a longer-term perspective. So I think that's the context I want us to talk about. And we are going to talk about one kind of entrepreneurship today on our panel, mostly around the creative industries. Very exciting, partly because Azerbaijan is leading on this in many ways, as you've heard, but partly because this group of entrepreneurs are naturally creative. It is actually, they were creative first before they became entrepreneurs. So I think it remains a very powerful opportunity for us. Now, yesterday, we had a business dialogue working session. We'll give you a little clip video of what we did yesterday. And while that video's playing, I would like to invite our panelists on this dialogue, if they would please come up to, after the video's played, come up to the stage and we'll begin our conversation. But before I do, I hope that you take a different view of entrepreneurs and recognize that this is a powerful force for good. It's not just people that create profit and opportunity, they're people that have a great responsibility in a world where often we get too focused on what divides us and not what we have in common. Thank you very much indeed. And So, I'd like to come up to the stage. We're gonna be now having a discussion. The first thing we'll be doing is beginning that discussion with a little bit of data from UNCTAD, and so if our panelists can join me up on the stage, I'd like to invite you to come up one by one. First of all, Ms. Dong Wu, who is the Chief of the Services Trade and Development Section at UNCTAD. Thank you very much for being here, Dong, if you want to come up and take a seat. We also have great expertise joining us from Turkey, and we have Erkan Azutun, the CEO from Turkey. If you could come up, Erkan, that'd be great. I'd like to invite my friend Rashad Azizov to return to the stage, please, to join us. Jirne, the founder and CEO of Alem Entertainment. Welcome, you're here. Great to meet you. Thank you. Finally, no discussion about creativity in the world should happen without at least one representative from the great country of Italy. I'd like to represent Manuela Fraldi. Please join us up on the stage. Thank you so much indeed. I'd like to just reference that we always think it's a good thing to start with a little bit of data, so as we understand the creative industries, what better person to turn to than Dong to give us some perspective on some research and analysis you've done of where is the state of the world when it comes to the creative industries? And Dong, I'd like to invite you to come to the stage and share your thoughts. Thank you.

Thank you, Jonathan, for that very kind introduction. Good afternoon, everyone. It's a great pleasure to be in Baku, and I really want to thank the organizers for the kind invitation and thank the host country for their wonderful hospitality and the excellent organization of this meeting. So today, I'd like to share some findings from UNCTAD's latest research. the creative economy with a particular focus on creative services. As we have heard from previous speakers, the creative economy holds great potential for economic development and economic diversification. Creative goods and services are also expressions of, thank you, creative goods and services also express identity, heritage, and innovation. They connect people across borders, and they contribute to sustainable development. I will highlight three key messages in my presentation. First, the creative economy is growing. Second, creative services are becoming increasingly important in international trade, supported by digitalization. Third, these opportunities have not been shared equally. These findings will build on UNCTAD's latest research, particularly the Creative Economy Outlook series and our database on international trade and services. Now, as you can see that the creative economy has remained a resilient growth engine. UNCTAD's recent estimates show that the creative economy contributed 6.8% of gross value added in 2021. This is among the 53 countries that have been surveyed by UNCTAD. And this figure is even higher in some of the countries. For example, in the United Kingdom, this is 10%. In the United States, it's 8.4%. And in the Republic of Korea, it's 7.2%. The chart on the screen, from the chart from the screen, you can see that there is a clear upward trend among the countries where time series data is available between 2011 and 2021. So the size of the creative economy has grown in nearly all the countries that were comparative data exists. Importantly, what we found is that a substantial contribution for this value added comes from services. What are we talking about here? So this includes software development, publishing, audiovisual services. and broadcasting, research and development, advertising, professional and technical services, as well as arts, entertainment, and cultural services. So these activities account for a growing share of the creative economy's value added, highlighting the central role of services in the creative economy. What has been driving this growth? Digitalization has been essential, critical. I will highlight some key trends here. First, digital services have been very much driving the growth in many creative industries, thanks to new business models such as online platforms and streaming. The music industry is a prime example, as you will see from the chart here, that streaming now accounts for 70% of all the revenues generated. If you look at the chart, which shows what's happened in the industry over the past 25 years or so, really, the digitalization has shifted the way creative contents are produced, distributed, and monetized. Second, creative industries are expanding rapidly in developing countries, very much fueled by high demand for digital creative services, and particularly from the younger generation. These developments are very much in line of a broader transformation in the global economy and international trade. So UNCTAD's Global Services Update finds that digitally deliverable services have been growing at 8% per year over the past decade, and now account for 56% of international trade in services. Azerbaijan is also participating in this transformation. According to Untouch stats, the country's exports of digitally deliverable services reached 2.6 billion in the US dollars in 2025, accounting for 30% of its digital total services exports. Now, looking at international trade, one of the most striking trends in recent years is the rise of creative services in global trade. So in 2024, global exports of creative services reached a record of 1.7 trillion US dollars, and that is more than double the number for creative goods. So creative services now account for 20% of total global services exports, compared to just 3% for creative goods in merchandise trade. If we look closely at the composition of the creative services trade, you will see that software development and research and development take the lion's share there. So these are the two largest categories accounting for over 72% of global creative services exports in 2024. Other categories have also expanded considerably, in particular advertising, market research, and architecture nearly quadrupled between 2010 and 2024. At the same time, cultural, recreational, and heritage services account for a much smaller share of recorded exports, although their contribution is maybe considerably larger to the domestic economies. Now, it's very interesting to note that in Azerbaijan, cultural, recreational, and heritage services exports reached $108 million in 2024, while imports amounted to $31 million, resulting in a trade surplus of 77 million US dollars. So while the creative economy is growing globally, participation remains very uneven. In 2024. As you will see on the screen, just 10 economies represent over 37, 73% of creative services exports. Even more notably, the top five export quarters from the developing world make up only 16% of the global creative services exports. Least developed countries and small island development states. contributed less than 0.1% of the global creative services exports and imports. This limited participation points to the challenges faced by many smaller and vulnerable economies in accessing global creative markets. So some of the The barriers that UNCTAD has identified include limited digital connectivity, skills, access to finance, and last but not least, having reliable data. As you know, that services is largely intangible, so oftentimes their economic values are underestimated. So among only around 25% of developing countries actually have sufficiently disaggregated data to analyze the real impact of services to the economy. For LDCs and the SIDS, this coverage is even lower. Without reliable data, it's very difficult to design effective policies and to attract investment or to promote cultural exports. So UNTV works At UNCTAD, we aim to address some of these gaps, and we support national statistics offices and promote the harmonization of frameworks to measure the creative economy. And we also work, for example, currently with countries to improve the collection and use of trade in services statistics, including those related to creative economy. Let me conclude with three messages. First, the creative economy offers opportunities for growth and for diversification, including in developing countries. Second, turning these potentials into real benefits requires digital infrastructure, skills, access to markets, strong institution, and inclusive policies, to name a few. And third, good data are essential for making good policies. UNTAD is committed to working with countries and partners to improve measurement and evidence-based policy making. Here you will see some of the more recent research products on the screen. And this brings me back to the theme of the forum. Creative goods and services generate economic opportunities. They also express identity and heritage and connect people across borders and encourage cultural exchange. So by developing the creative economy, we can support both economic opportunities and also greater understanding between cultures. Thank you very much.

Is that right? Okay, great. Thank you so much indeed. So I'm going to pick up on a few things and bring our panelists into a conversation and invite them to make some comments here. The first point I want to make is that you said a little bit along the lines of what I was emphasizing more broadly, which is the creative economy is flourishing, but it's flourishing and growing, but in only a limited number of economies. I'm reminded of that story of the CEO of a shoe company. And he sends two salespeople to Africa, and one calls up and says, boss, they don't wear shoes. I'm coming home. The other one calls up and says, hey, boss, they have no shoes. Okay? So the question I always like to think about here is, why? Are the barriers for economies, clearly Azerbaijan is saying, we don't see the barriers, we're gonna capture this, an opportunity here. But what are the biggest barriers for countries entering into this market? Do you have any thoughts on that? What are the big reasons that we've got just a few countries rather than more widely across the world?

Thank you, Jonathan, for that. From what we have observed, some of the, a lot of these opportunities are really brought by digitalization, which has really increased the tradability of services in particular. So this is why countries which have excellent connectivity skills, you need to have the electricity and also the access to internet and all that, but you also need, at the end of the day, the people with the skills to do this. And also the access to finance has been consistently raised as an issue faced by particularly the small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. And I think one of the speakers mentioned the issue with fragmentation. Particularly in the digital realm, this is a major challenge for SMEs when they have to supply their services across different borders, and they face different regulatory regimes, and this is very hard for them to navigate. So kind of the interoperability and regulatory harmonization would go a long way in facilitating that.

Okay, so Rishad, thank you again for your comments, and I want to sort of I have a follow up to you too, if we can, on this question. If we're trying to, if you're an economy and you're trying to get involved, how much of this is solving these problems that Dong has referenced? How much of this is a government challenge? I mean, where does government start, where does government end, and how much of this is the private sector?

I think it depends on the different states because some of their states are just starting the real policy making in that field. For us and for the countries in the region, I think this is a great opportunity, especially for the oil economies countries, because the creative industries is one more opportunity. This is the resource that can make the game rules changer in that field. And if we take into consideration that we should move locally, that means global trends, but with a local approach for production processes, and of course the global aiming for the export of all the goods and services that can be created. Also, the opportunity in the creative industries is also not only on the form, because due to the form, the channels of these for these goods, such like the digital channels, streaming platforms, e-commerce system, also the make sense in that field is doing by the content, and the content is created locally, especially In such countries as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, other Turkey, Orient countries, we have a lot of things that can be provided to the world. So the first issue is to understand how our content can be provided, because we have what to provide to the world. And the second issue is maybe to find our place in these channels or to build the new ones, especially regionally. So the policy for the government and the governments in general is to focus on conforming the concrete market for production and for market to sell, for the export of the goods. The second issue is In our region, the culture was considered always as a governmentally supported part of the society, of the economic. Now we are getting the new rules. This is absolutely market-based rules. We need also the change of the mindset of all the players. So, what we are trying to do in Azerbaijan, and I think this can be the trend for the neighborhood countries, we are trying to build the ecosystem, as I mentioned yesterday, the stakeholders, the new games, rules, and in that game, government, the state shouldn't be the player, it should be the regulator. And this is what should be done, this is the main challenge. for the government, for the state, for the state entities, and officials, public services. Because it's also very difficult in the cultural sphere to make this change. And the second part is to understand that if we are speaking about the industries, this means the entrepreneurship, and the entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial approach have absolutely other understanding that we had in the cultural sphere. When we are creating the startup, this is about idea creation, the team building, after that the prototype, MVPs, and then it's scaling, scale up, investment. So this is absolutely new issues for this sphere. And sometimes we are speaking that we are not doing the startups, but we are doing start arts. Just one figure, but we need the same approach, and we should think about the investment, how it should be brought, the private sector, private money. So if generalize what I say, government should build the ecosystem and became the regulator only in that field, and to support the strong ecosystem players, such like the investment funds, VC funds, incubators, creative parks, techno parks. So this is what should be done at the moment.

Right. And I want to thank you for that. I want to share a little bit about a debate that we had in the working group yesterday was around the role of government. And I think it's very important for those people that have not grown up in a society that was predominantly very much led by the public sector. That is a very hard transition to make, the one you're discussing, one where we have to begin to trust the private sector for taking the initiative in more areas. And we applaud you for how that's happening. And it also began to take its form in the discussions yesterday in our working group around capital and the financing of this. And I want to come to that if we can. You know, there was a little bit of a debate yesterday, and the discussion was around, should public money follow private investor decisions, or should private investors follow public money? And on the one hand, the role of the public sector can be in the early stages to de-risk the opportunities for private market. On the other hand, You've got to be careful with that, because most people agree that governments aren't necessarily very good at selecting investments, certainly wise investments. And so I want to come to that question, and if I can, I'd like to see if we could we could get some additional perspectives on this. So maybe, Urna, we'd like to hear from you, maybe a comment on that question, but perhaps before you do, can you tell everybody why are you part of this discussion and a little bit about your role as an investor and someone with a considerable experience? I know all the way from California across the world, you've done a lot of, you've got a lot of venture and private equity experience. So tell us a little bit about your background, but also tell us a little bit about what you're thoughts are on the financing part of the creative industries.

Thank you very much, Jonathan. First of all, I'd like to say thanks to the organizers of this forum. It's great to be back to Baku, Azerbaijan. So last time I was here, it was two and a half months ago, and we were shooting the movie with Mr. Jackie Chan, The Armor of God 4: Ultimatum, actually in this very building, on top of the building. If you remember, there was lots of videos about it. And so My background, I come from the both private sector, but I also spent 10 years in the public sector, building what is called now Astana International Financial Center, about for 10 years. And just to reflect on the discussions, maybe I'll just make a few points. First of all, regarding the creative industries and why we founded our fund and why are we financing it. So what we noticed, maybe around after the pandemic mostly, when the world started to defragment, we started noticing that local markets started to want to see more local content. So in Kazakhstan, for example, 10 years ago, 85% of the cinema was dominated by Hollywood and other neighboring countries' content, but nowadays, 85% of the content is actually local movies produced by the local producers. So suddenly, the audience started to want to watch Not just some superstars from Hollywood, but actually some local superstars. And the reason is that most people nowadays don't want to see some hypothetical story. They want to see some story which they can reflect to. They want to see someone that looks like their neighbor, someone that looks like their teacher or a friend, and et cetera. So in Kazakhstan, we have actually under went this path of actual localization of the content. But because we have a smaller market, this market is not enough to produce bigger projects. So that's why the mission, one of the missions of our fund was that, why don't we create a fund and start supporting local producers, local actors, and the local production companies so that they can tell the stories globally. Because another trend what we're noticing nowadays is that the way we look at the world is somewhat shaped by the, mostly the movies that we saw, and most of the movies comes from Hollywood. So the way we look at the Middle East or even Azerbaijan, for example, before coming here, most of these images are shaped by the movies. And because everything was centralized, the way we look at the world was somehow shaped by others. And nowadays, we started noticing that each country, each nation, each culture started to desire to tell about their cultures themselves. Like, for example, we thought, why don't we talk about Kazakhstan? Why don't we tell the world what Kazakhstan is? Why, for example, Borat talking about Kazakhstan, for instance, right? So I think we're at the stage where each country, including Azerbaijan, from part of the region in each smaller country, including the Middle East nowadays, there's a big trend. Everybody wanted to start developing their creative industries so that they can have actually a voice in this new forming world. One thing I would say about entrepreneurship, so we actually had the practical experience of shooting a movie in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, and I can tell you that the There is a lot of gaps because that has not been done before. So, and I support your idea that only these gaps possess certain level of risks, and only probably entrepreneurs could take those risks without asymmetry of information, without knowing things. And here, i would say that, of course, there is a lot of institutional things we do, there's a lot of supports, but actually, why this project, before we started this project, maybe we had like maybe 100 reasons why it shouldn't work. You know, everybody was telling us it's not going to work, we don't have this, we don't have that. But what success factor actually, what was the success factor for this project is actually the one that you showed about human agency. It's a relationship. So what saved this project is actually personal relationship and involvement of myself, Mr. Rashad Azizov, our producer Isa Melikov. So because the world is now forming, we don't have like bridges or institutions or programs that support such projects. So in this forming world, the only thing remains is the human to human interaction, human to human trust, and actually we pulled it together because of the involvement of actually particular people. And we are very happy that it worked, and we hope that it will be like a good case. And later on, as Mr. Rashad Tadeev mentioned, government can build on that case and actually form an ecosystem so that these projects happen more on a regular basis.

Fantastic. You know, I'm delighted to hear you talk about the human factor being so important, particularly since most investors or people putting together the finance are concerned about the data. They're like, you know, don't give me the Don't give me the story here, give me the, and of course, you know, in this post-AI world now, we have to understand that this human interaction is something that to anybody in the audience still mapping out where you're going with your career, remember that it's your human, it's what we used to call in the old days, the soft skills that are really gonna matter in moving forward. But let me just push you on one thing before we lose you here. So one of the things that, you know, you're very focused on an entertainment fund, but you've got a lot of experience on the investor side of the house. And one of the discussions that was being debated yesterday, in fact, there was open disagreement on the panel, is around what are the biggest factors that might hold back creative industry entrepreneurs and startups from getting funding? I mean, often at Gen, we think we have to be an objective voice of telling entrepreneurs, by the way, you are not investable yet. This is not the right time. We're always focused on, let's get the right capital in the right hands at the right time. And one of the things that's very hard to hear if you're an entrepreneur, and most strategies of governments around the world, are, we've got to deal with this access to capital issue. And we sometimes disagree with governments, say, by the way, there's plenty of capital, it's just that the They're not investable yet. So, is that true with the creative services industry? Is this true? Is it the same or is it something different that we do in Creative World?

I think in general, creative industries are actually more on the venture spectrum, so they are very risky. So in Kazakhstan, out of maybe 100 movie projects that come out each year, maybe 20 will be successful, and maybe 80 will barely break even or actually not even get the funding back. So one of the things I think what happened in Kazakhstan, and I think what government can do actually, it's actually develop an infrastructure to lower down the cost of the production. For example, we faced that problems in Kazakhstan when we didn't have, for example, international level movie pavilion. So like a sound stage. So for example, sound stage is actually very expensive and local production companies cannot actually create it on their own. So together we worked with some private investors and the government as well to actually build this international level sound stage so we can shoot it in Kazakhstan. Otherwise, we would have had to go to China or to other countries to shoot it, which would actually add a lot of costs. So certain infrastructural cost, i believe government can maybe take or maybe by itself or through their film, like film companies or state-owned companies. I believe that's one thing they can do. Second thing they can do is about the movie besides tax is about equipment, and most markets actually lack equipment. So if government can invest into equipment, infrastructure, and provide it to most of the entrepreneurs, so it can indirectly participate in lowering down the cost and actually reducing the barriers for entrepreneurs. And the last thing I would say is that most countries still, not Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, but most countries still have barriers in terms of getting onto the TV. selling their projects to the TV or bringing their projects to the cinema. There's still this like, still certain agencies that actually create super barrier in terms of getting into the screen. So that's why we see most of the projects are going on the social media and the YouTube and the streaming platforms, because they're more democratic in terms of accepting the content. So that's I believe one thing that government can also do. reducing the access to actually the audience.

Go ahead, you want to add something?

Make a short comment. If the money needs the right project in the right time, so then the private sector and the government sector should share their responsibility. Private sector is responsible for the right projects to come, but the right time should be done by the government.

Understood, yes. But I think there's an important insight to make sure that we underline that what you said here. Sometimes we think, oh, for example, in the clean tech field, We often turn around and say, well, government really shouldn't have been pouring so much money into that, because they were, so to speak, mitigating risk, but they were also guiding where private sector money went, and it might not have been able to go there. But I like what you're talking about, like, build the studio, provide the sound studio, actually just mitigate the risk by reducing the capital investment required by both the public and the private sector investments. So I think we should make sure that we underscore that's an insight for us to take away from this. I want to shift, if we can, a little bit to the international community's vision here. We have representatives from two countries that I think have done a tremendous job, sometimes in different ways, at navigating growing what's happening in this field. And in particular, I'd like to see if we could If we can begin a little bit from Italy, we're gonna get, Manuela is going to just give us a little bit of perspective. As I said earlier, you know, often, you know, we often view Italy as being the design capital of the world. We all, of course, know you for fashion, for so much art and creativity. So, can you tell us a little bit more about your work and about what you think is the Italian contribution to this dialogue?

Well, in the first, well, thank you, thank you, jonathan, as well dear guests and panelists. In the first place, i really appreciated the title of this session, so let me start by that, because it made me especially in the broader context of the forum, it made me reflect on something that I had always known and experienced throughout my professional life, but perhaps never fully recognized in these terms. the diplomatic dimension of everyday business relationship. So I'm happy we have this opportunity. Indeed, entrepreneurs are not set out, do not necessarily set out to be diplomats, yet through their activities and through the relations they build, they can and do contribute to dialogue and mutual understanding between different cultures. Having said that, I would let me just share some thoughts from my own experience, not only, well, broadly of many years supporting entrepreneurs working through throughout the borders of different kind of different, throughout all continents, but Specifically in some of my capacities, maybe more exactly as a founding member and president of the Italy-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, a bilateral chamber that has been focusing on this, on bringing together two business communities. And also, reflecting about this panel, about what we would talk about in this panel, I realized even more and more clearly that what we have been doing in bringing entrepreneurs together had a lot to do with culture as much as business. Just to give you an example, we organize business presentations all throughout Italy. And the main goal, the main scope of our activities since foundation was, especially a few years ago when it was more needed, was not only to promote Azerbaijan as a market, as a new market, potential market, and highlighting the opportunities offered by this market, but specifically to promote the information of Azerbaijan as a country with its own history, its own culture, as way of life, and thinking of all the business, the country presentations that we organized regularly, we organized dozens of them throughout the years with all the main business associations in Italy, for instance, Surprisingly, the part that was most successful was not so much about the incentives and the opportunities, but also about the personal view, the personal experience that I could bring to the audience, that I could share with the audience about the country, its lifestyle, what an entrepreneur might encounter when coming to Azerbaijan. So really, This is the main advantage and the main scope of business support organizations like ours, which is bilateral, to bring together the business communities, but at the same time enhancing and supporting the mutual knowledge between different countries. Now, Italy could be a good benchmark, a good example as regards creative industries that you have mentioned, and maybe a good benchmark also for Azerbaijan, particularly as regards the cultural heritage and tradition that can not only be an opportunity for enrichment, mutual enrichment, but also a business opportunity, because from creative, Italy, especially small medium enterprises that are extremely strong in our market, most of small medium enterprises, they are using and exporting traditional know-how, traditional products to which they have applied technology. So there is no conflict between tradition and innovation. but instead, they could be combined and support the growth of small medium enterprises abroad and at the same time enhance and support dialogue.

Thank you, thank you. I want to come back to you with a couple of follow-up questions, but first I want to ask this broader question, Erik, and with you. You obviously bring another powerhouse perspective to this, both as a leader of your entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem, and I think I lost it, but Turkey has, you know, Turkey's obviously grown a very powerful entrepreneurial ecosystem, and particularly in the creative sector. and particularly around gaming and other fields. So what are the lessons you've learned, given how much progress you've made in this journey and as a leading actor in this region?

Thank you very much. So most of the conversation is going around ecosystem, and actually, this is what we have built. So until five years ago, six years ago, Turkey had no unicorns, right? Right now, we have eight unicorns that is grown in Turkey, and three of them are in gaming ecosystem, and it is one of the key areas of creative industries. And creative industries, entrepreneurship is the most difficult business in the world. You don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, and you may not get your money, etc. So those people have big problems. When people have big problems, the small problems vanish. And when there are big problems, so small problems vanish, people can understand each other better. They can put problems aside and work on the actual thing. So that happened actually in the gaming, in the entrepreneurship ecosystem of Turkey. We had many problems and people, because of those problems, people had to work harder, people had to work together. So, you know, we are in business dialogue, and the hardship created that dialogue opportunity in my country. And as government or as my institution, what we have done, we just try to create a solution, whatever entrepreneurs need. So we have software schools, we have education programs, everybody does. And let's open a parenthesis here. After AI, we don't know what will happen, because today, the best software developers are doing almost nothing. They are just prompting. The best coder is AI itself. So, the same will happen in some other areas. We might talk about this a bit later. But on gaming ecosystem, once again, we have funded, we created a fund of fund and funded the experts. As you said, the government is not very good at funding. But I think the government might be good at funding funds, so this is what we have done. We created an ecosystem, bring people together. When we talk about gaming, the same is, it is same for cinema or other cultural businesses too. When we talk about gaming ecosystem, the first talent we think about is software developing. But to be honest, It is the last. We need 3D artists, game engine users. We need script writers, musicians, etc. They all come together and that creates a successful game company. So we created an ecosystem to bring those people together because they don't know each other. They don't have any common area. Then we help them try and fail and try again. and fail again, but fail better. And at the end, some of them succeeded. One last thing I want to share is that about not only game, but Turkey's journey. Some time ago, our Minister of Industry and Technology was visiting an industrial zone, and someone was shouting, "Mr. Minister, minister, minister, minister, I need to say something to you." Okay, come and say, I want to thank you for the success in defense industry. He says, you are a furniture manufacturer. What is it about defense industry? And he says, I am exporting furniture, but before, like three years, five years ago, 10 years ago, the prices I offer were compared with the prices of Egyptian furniture or Indian furniture, but now they are compared with Italian furniture. So because of the success in a very different area, the ecosystem is working all together, the other parts are benefiting from them. So once again, Ecosystem, ecosystem, and ecosystem. Thank you.

No, that's very powerful. So we want to make sure that the work here in Azerbaijan is compared with the United States in pricing terms, not necessarily with other markets. Tell us a little bit more about, because I know you run, talking about ecosystem, you run one of the largest So tell us a little bit more about your operation, because I know you've done some work here in Azerbaijan, but you're really anchoring this ecosystem in Turkey.

Yeah, actually, azerbaijan is the only country we have a presence other than Türkiye. And our institution is basically a science park, and we have several branches. And we are expanding day by day. And our latest project is Terminal Istanbul. Let me share about this a little bit. So the former Atatürk Airport, one of the largest airports in the Europe, was abandoned. I mean, it moved to its new place. And it was empty since like eight years now. And now, we are turning it into the largest entrepreneurship center in the world. Right now, the largest one is in France, and it is the Station F. It was a former train station. And the second one is in Riyadh. It was a former bus terminal, and now we are turning an airport into an entrepreneurship center. And the goal is, you know, Turkey was considered like a bridge between East and West, between North and South. But And airports are like that. The problem is that there is no life on a bridge. There is no trade on a bridge. So no one lives on a bridge. Instead of a bridge, we want to turn Turkey into a nexus, a meeting point. So we are turning the old airport from a bridge to a nexus, to a hub for startups, entrepreneurs, investors. mentors, all this stuff. So we are trying to create an international network for that. So we have opened that facility a few weeks ago, and it is a born global startup hub, startup center, entrepreneurship center. And we are creating a stronger network day by day. So far, we have over 40 international actors working with us, working together from about 20 different countries to make Türkiye a country of technology and entrepreneurship. This is the goal, this is the dream, and this is why actually we are also here. We call this Technology diplomacy in action, technology diplomacy in practice. You know, my last sentence can be this. Before Europe Union, it was European Economic Community. So the trade diplomacy, economic diplomacy, created the Europe Union. So we need more economical affairs, stronger affairs, stronger actors. in business dialogue to create a stronger international ecosystem. Thank you again.

I think you're absolutely right. Of course, you know, you're speaking to the converted with many of our community because we believe in one global entrepreneurial ecosystem, and we're so proud of what you're doing at the old airport. Thank you. We love the new airport, by the way, too. So great job in Istanbul. But I think it's a very powerful message, particularly at a time when many communities around the world are struggling with affordability, you know, economics as a global language is becoming extremely important. Well, we don't have too much time left, but I do want a couple of quick things before we end. I do want to give each of you a chance to make a final comment or two that you really think is important for us, both either about the powerful role that this industry and entrepreneurs overall can play in this global mission we've got this week as part of the forum, or you can talk particularly about what you think is the most important lesson for anyone trying to build a a strong creative industries ecosystem. But before I invite each of you to do that, I do want to ask Dong if you can comment a little bit. We heard a little bit from Italy and we heard a little bit from Turkey. You've also had, you mentioned it briefly in your remarks, but you've got a lot of experience with Korea, which, of course, you know, I mean, I have three kids in the United States, and somehow they all got into K-pop. I'm not sure how it occurred, but Korea has figured out how to create cultural phenomenons. So is there any lessons that you've learned from studying Korea as to how they managed to create this economic engine around culture?

Thank you for that question. In fact, we did a study on the success the K-content in Korea, and one of the key really take-home lessons was that it didn't happen by accident, it was really done by design. The government recognized its importance as a key driver for economic prosperity in the 1990s, particularly after the financial crisis, they switched to creativity, knowledge and technical skills and entrepreneurship as they're kind of the new priorities for the government. And they have adopted, they kind of developed a plan and adopted a host of policies, for example, to protect intellectual property because they recognize the need for artists and investors to monetize their production. And secondly, they really embraced digital technology. I guess the rise of the K-content really coincided with the dramatic rise in social media and network and so forth. I think it's no surprise that the first ever YouTube video that had 1 billion views was from South Korea. So they really invested in digital technology. And thirdly, is they really promoted cultural exports. And that was very significant, because in many of the countries, work with, yes, there is some level of importance attached to culture, but it's always seen as, okay, it's important for social cohesion, maybe nation building, but not really as a key economic driver for economic development. So I think in that, it's a lot of interesting lessons learned from Korea. Thank you.

Well, thank you very much, Ade. So we're going to hear some final comments to wrap up our panel. I want to give you all a chance. I guess, Manuela, can we start with you? Just to give us your final message to all of us as we look to leverage creativity and culture for economic value creation around the world.

Thank you. I think we should, at least I was gathering a few thoughts, we should go from dialogue to concrete opportunities, how to support the growth, international growth of creative industries. Definitely, what we need more projects. There are a lot of business forums like this one. They are very important, but sometimes what is missing is the follow-up, is the support, because we all agree on the main, let's say, principles, but then we have to go from, I guess, again, from dialogue to real results. So in order to do that, I was thinking of some projects that we can start developing. Of course, my horizon is very much focused on Azerbaijan and Italy, so I could think of that and close with this thought, bringing together chambers of commerce, entrepreneurs, so private sector, public sector institutions, and the creative industries working together consistently in the long term with enough means to be able to achieve something, because again, it's what the means are also necessary to come with results and measure the success of this project. not so much by the number of people that are gathered in the rooms, but how many projects are successfully then implemented and how many real cooperations are the real outcome. So how to continue working after people leave the room. So that's a final thought.

Thank you for that, and I know you're advocating for Azerbaijan to be one of the people that brings people together for those concrete steps, so I'm glad that you've been wedded to, or deeply engaged in this country's growth, and they're lucky to have you, so that's fantastic. So, final question.

Yeah, just a few points to make certain things clear, because we have discussed many things. So, I think for To promote any market, especially creative market, I think we would need three things. So first of all, i think what you mentioned about data, data is very important, and that's what people look, so you have to have a good data, good macroeconomic environment, first of all. Second of all, I think entrepreneurs will find the opportunity, but these opportunities have to be accessible. So the second part, I guess the regulation is very important. regulation, ecosystem, legal framework is everything important. But at the end of the day, when you have those two things ready, and when you want to actually make an investment, you need to feel as any entrepreneur or capital investor needs to feel comfortable. And the most comfortable place that we know is what is home. So you've actually, everybody feels comfortable at home. So to be able to invest or to do something in a foreign country, You have to feel yourself like home. So the new market should become like a second home, and I'm very happy that Azerbaijan became my second home. And the reason why it became my second home, because we're still human beings and we need interactions. So the people here in Azerbaijan, including the agency, our partners, producers, our friends sitting there. They made us feel like home, and that's why we actually went with it. So I guess the forums like this, of course you can watch this forum online, maybe perhaps nowadays you can do a lot of things, but forums like this, actually, the most important things is to create these human to human bonds and to create like friends. And eventually, like my colleague from Turkey mentioned, the reason why they set up a branch outside of Turkey on Azerbaijan because they also feel themselves like home. So I think maybe main strategy is to promote Azerbaijan, is for Azerbaijan to become second home for most of the global entrepreneurs and investors.

Thank you. Final comment.

All these words that said here are as a honey to our soul. Because if Turkey wants to move the role of the bridge to become the place where the startups start and live, we are ready to take this role and be the bridge for different countries, for different markets, especially the bridge for the cooperation in the field of creative industries. And we hope that also the Alim Entertainment or the Dalaj can also find the the second place here, and maybe it will be much more. I just want to add two things as a final comment for today's discussion. So what I take from this discussion for me, of course, the ecosystem, it was the word that was pronounced by everybody, and we also use it here, and even when we consider the word of ecosystem In the framework of the governmental policy, we are seeing it's we should move from the ego system approach to the ecosystem. So in the cultural sphere, it's very important because always there is the only the support of the government. Government says what, how, and by whom should be done. If you are doing it as an ecosystem, you should just regulate the process. make their subjects, make these personalities be more free. That's why I think that locally we should move from the support of the projects to the support of the subjects, make them more strong, and then the projects will come themselves, and it will be enough amount for different projects, and then the number of successes of the wins will be much bigger. And we will have not only one film per year, maybe much more, more startups, etc. So, and the second point is maybe more internationally, when we speak about the ecosystem and we consider that the creative industries should have international market, the ecosystem should be considered much more than locally. And that means the ecosystem players, at least the players who are making the rules, who are making the game, they should consider also internationally. They shouldn't be only within one country, and only the ones who are getting to the another countries, one, two, three, maybe in all countries of the region, then they will make sense. So we need the international VCs, international acceleration programs specialized on the creative industries in general and in concrete clusters. Thanks.

Dong, quick comment from you and from the both of you, and then I think we need to let everybody get to lunch before they, so go ahead.

Sure, thank you. So I would say that the creative economy really is an important sector, so it deserves really the attention and also investment of both the public and private sectors. Often that is overlooked is its importance for that it brings real economic benefit in terms of jobs, in terms of export revenues, and also in terms of its self power. So secondly, so governments should really treat this sector as important as any other sectors and design policies to do that. They really need to have a good understanding of the real value of the sector to economic growth and development, and in that, UNCTAD would be happy to work with countries to map these sectors. And last, I think this has been an extremely interesting exchange because a lot of the different countries are grappling with similar challenges and adopting policy measures, and I think it will be very interesting to I would be happy to, from UNCTAD's perspective, to invite everyone to come to our Global Services Forum and also our multi-year expert meeting on trading services where countries come and share experiences of what works and what doesn't work. So thank you very much for the opportunity.

Thank you.

I want to end with a question. So, is there anyone who knows What was the first use of electricity? Why it was invented? So, electricity. So, it was used to replace gas lamps with light bulbs. So, they were not thinking about microphones, LED screens, or cameras, etc. But now, humanity created new things step by step, because we have a limit for our imagination. So now we are in a very similar age because of AI. AI is changing everything very rapidly. And all humanity contributed to today's technology. And for tomorrow's technology, we need to work together once again. And for that, I want to make a concrete proposal. I want to invite investors, I want to invite entrepreneurs, ecosystem actors to work together, either in Terminal Istanbul or in Azerbaijan or in another country. But let's create stronger bonds, just not leave our communication on the stages. Thank you.

Well, we love that very much. You've been absolutely tremendous panelists. I want to point out that I'll leave you with my last thought, which is electricity also has invented artificial intelligence. And we need to make sure that we don't allow artificial intelligence to our AI agents to take over our human agents. And I would argue that the creative sector has become even more important than it was in the past. And I think all of our panelists would agree that it should be a priority for investment, both in the public and the private sector, because there's one thing that Claude can't really do as well as you can do, and that is Claude isn't as creative as you are. can't really guide and direct with all those sense of agency that I wanted to emphasize that entrepreneurs and human beings can do. So I hope I leave you with this thought, that our field of the creative industry remains extremely important. If you're gonna spend your time, if you're gonna risk your energy, it's a great environment to be in. And whether or not you're a government or a multilateral agency, whether you're not a leader of an innovation ecosystem, or whether or not you're an investor, or if you're someone that's patching those specific projects between countries, I hope that you've got that message today that we are very proud that this is a part of this global dialogue and that we can move forward with it. I want to also add my same thanks to all of our panelists. I want to invite each of you, by the way, in addition to Dong's conference, we also have the Global Entrepreneurship Congress the last week of March. You are all welcome. I want to mark Would you stand up? And William in the back on my team, William Charter, my chief of staff, many thanks to him and to Mark here, he leads a lot of our work in Europe. If you're interested in more information, ask them, or you can look up Global Entrepreneurship Congress. But if you register through us from this conference, you get to come free. So it's a good opportunity for you to come and participate and to follow what I think was part of the message, which is also, in addition to being part of the Azerbaijan ecosystem, be part of the global ecosystem. Glocal was part of our message, and we all want to provide opportunities in our own ways for you to move forth in that way. So thank you very much for having us. Bon appetit, lunch is served. Thank you.