Jan 30 (Reuters) - Following are excerpts from an interview with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.
Aliyev talked about the impact of the global slowdown on his country's economy and planned cuts in oil production to help support world prices. He also shrugged off criticism about a referendum this year to abolish presidential term limits.
Click on [ID:nLT38229] for a full story on Aliyev's comments on the economy and on [ID:nLT121385] for a story on his remarks about his country's democratic record.
OIL PRODUCTION CUTS
"We will of course reduce oil production, predicted oil production, and that was declared by our representatives at the OPEC meeting. That is our contribution to the stabilisation of oil prices. So I think every country has to contribute to that."
Asked by how much Azerbaijan could cut output, Aliyev said: "Well that depends on the oil price. The target is about 300,000 barrels a day. This is a maximum. And it depends on the oil price."
"If it remains as it is, probably that will be the target. If it goes up, probably we will amend the figure. We could cut the cuts," he said.
WILL AZERBAIJAN JOIN OPEC?
"We were not invited. And plus our production today is, though it is big, it only over the past few years became a producer of large volumes. Before that we were building up production so we never seriously considered that option ... So if we are invited we will of course consider that but now perhaps it is premature to talk about that."
IMPACT OF SLOWDOWN ON ECONOMY
"I can tell you that even with an oil price of $40 or $45 a barrel which we have today our economy will successfully function and our economy will be able to tolerate this level of prices. We have had even worse times as you remember.
"Of course the times when we had GDP (growth) of 25-30 percent are over -- it is not possible to repeat. And the fact that for the last five years, our GDP grew by 26 times, well I think that is a historical record.
"So our forecast for this year is about 10 percent which I think in the conditions of the global crisis is more than enough"
"Our performance in the conditions of crisis and oil price falls shows the major success of our economic development is not oil. Oil is produced in many parts of the world including in our neighbourhood. But economic reforms, transformations, non-oil sector and the liberalisation of the economy, good investment climate -- these are the real factors.
REFERENDUM ON ABOLISHING TERM LIMIT
"There are many issues which will be on the referendum and the people will have to finally say what their attitude is. So a referendum is a democratic procedure which allows people to decide as in any other country"
"You will not find any member of the European Union whose leader cannot be elected as many times as the people want him to be in this position. Is it democratic? Yes. So the same should be applied to Azerbaijan."
CRITICISM OF HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD
"If the criticism is justified and when it comes from a respectable source we are more than ready and willing to discuss it."
"Some of the criticism we sometimes hear from various NGOs actually does not bother because this criticism is mainly biased. The situation with human rights in Azerbaijan is not bad. If you look at our region you will see that countries in our neighbourhood who brutally violate the elementary human rights of their people have not become the subject of criticism, like Armenia."
"Is the situation with the democratic development of Azerbaijan perfect? No. But where is it perfect?"
"Sometimes those countries that are considered to be more friendly or more close or more, how to say it, more associated with the West, if they do something wrong it is not noticed. But if Azerbaijan, which is also friendly to the West but which pursues its own independent policy, does one percent of what those other countries do then we immediately become a subject of criticism. We do not pay big attention to that."
NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
"There is a process of negotiations, certain progress but no results. And this is a major problem. The conflict can only be resolved on the basis of principles, and those are the principles of international law, there are no other principles it can be based on. And those international law principles presume the withdrawal of Armenian occupation forces from our land and the return of internally displaced people to that land.
"So Armenians themselves have to make a decision on what is the benefit of keeping this land under occupation. They are isolated from the region, they are isolated from energy projects, pipelines, railroads and without having good relations with Azerbaijan and other neighbours it will be difficult for them to live in isolation in the future."