Azerbaijan, Bulgaria strive for cooperation in agriculture
By Sara Israfilbayova
Bulgarian business community has a great interest towards Azerbaijan, which is connected with great political relations between the two countries and the favorable business environment created in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Bulgaria Nargiz Gurbanova stressed in an interview with Trend that Azerbaijan intends to enter the Bulgarian market of agricultural products with a wide range of goods.
The Ambassador said that first of all, the sides plan to expand cooperation in the field of agriculture, which has never lost its relevance.
"Now it is very important in two aspects, both in the context of the development of new sustainable varieties and in the issue of processing agricultural products. Bulgaria has a fairly rich experience in both areas," she stressed.
The priority areas include winemaking, application of mechanisms for controlling the quality of agricultural products, participation in agricultural exhibitions, creating opportunities for companies to participate in such forums, providing support to investors, etc
The diplomat went on to say that in October-November of this year, it is planned to hold a business forum with participation of businessmen of the two countries specializing in the field of agriculture.
"We are also interested in promoting Made in Azerbaijan products in Bulgaria, and representatives of Azerbaijani business circles who are interested in promoting their products to the Bulgarian markets will be able to contact the Bulgarian entrepreneurs in the course of the business forum and find out what is interesting for the Bulgarian consumer," Gurbanova noted.
Moreover, the Azerbaijani government plans to expand cooperation with Bulgaria in such areas as trade, tourism, ICT, transport, energy and others.
"Undoubtedly, it is traditionally considered that energy is the cornerstone of our partnership and partly this is true. Starting from 2020, Azerbaijani gas in the amount of 1 billion cubic meters per year will flow to Bulgaria, which is 1/3 of the total gas consumption in Bulgaria," the diplomat emphasized.
The Shah Deniz 2 gas of Azerbaijan will be delivered to Bulgaria through the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB).
IGB is expected to be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.
The gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects at the initial stage.
She also noted cooperation in transport projects is gaining importance in bilateral economic relations, further adding that the location of both states, the infrastructure created in Azerbaijan, create favorable conditions for this, so that the European partners will use it to transport goods to China and back.
In addition, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria plan to sign an agreement on social security.
The document will regulate the right to receive pensions and unemployment benefits for citizens of Azerbaijan and Bulgaria who work or worked in one of the two countries (currently, Azerbaijan has such agreements with Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Georgia).
Nargiz Gurbanova and Minister of Labor and Social Policy of Bulgaria Biser Petkov recently discussed cooperation in the sphere of social policy, making a particular focus on the interaction in the field of labor migration.
The Government of the Republic of Bulgaria recognized the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan on January 14, 1992 and the diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on June 5, 1992.
Both countries are members of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
The trade turnover between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan reached almost $6.39 million in January-June 2017, $6.3 million of which fell on imports from this country, according to Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee.
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