President Aliyev heads to France
By Aynur Jafarova
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev started a working visit to France on June 23.
Azerbaijan and France established diplomatic relations in February 1992.
France is the seventh country supplying its products to Azerbaijan. The trade turnover between the two countries stood at $1.56 billion in 2013 and over $370 million in the first quarter of 2014. Joint projects worth over $1 billion have also been implemented.
France has invested about $2.4 billion in Azerbaijan's economy. The greatest part of these investments accounted for the oil sector.
As for the non-oil sector, France ranks only ninth in terms of the non-oil investments in Azerbaijan's economy. Over 50 French companies are involved in the non-oil sectors' projects, worth about $1.8 billion - including the first Azerbaijani telecommunications satellite Azerspace, and a plant for solid waste recycling.