Azerbaijan exports make good chunk of change for economy
By Sara Israfilbayova
2017 was set for Azerbaijan as the year of the revival of non-oil economy. During the year, the government took a big and strong leap forward to increase both production and export of non-oil products.
Promotion of the “Made in Azerbaijan” brand on foreign markets became one of the priorities of the country’s foreign economic policy. The “Made in Azerbaijan” brand is winning glory in the world.
The export missions play an important role in expanding non-oil exports and promoting the domestic made products. To date, Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) has organized 13 export missions to 10 foreign countries-Germany, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Hungary, China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
Exhibitions, organized by the state bring excellent results. National entrepreneurs took part in five international exhibitions-Gulfood 2017, Prowein, ANUGA, Worldfood Moscow 2017 and the International Exhibition of Wines and Alcoholic Beverages in Hong Kong to promote the brand.
The Azerbaijani delegation will also be in Tehran on January 30 at the first specialized international exhibition of food industry and detergents, sanitation, cosmetics, pulp and paper industry and related industries.
The exhibition “SIAL Paris-promotion of business in food products”, to be held in Paris on October 21, will also include Azerbaijani food products.
It is planned to organize a number of missions and exhibitions to promote domestic products in foreign countries under the “Made in Azerbaijan” brand this year.
These are not all the measures that have been and will be taken in order to promote Azerbaijani products on foreign markets. It has been repeatedly noted that 2017 in many respects became preparatory for the development of economy in subsequent years.
Advertising of national products on foreign TV channels and in the media has also started since the end of last year. Azerbaijani products will also be sold in Duty Free shops of different airports, and agreements were concluded during the year with supermarket chains in Arab and European countries.
President Ilham Aliyev signed the Decree on large-scale promotion of local non-oil products in foreign markets as “Made in Azerbaijan” on 5 October 2016.
This Decree includes nine different support mechanisms to stimulate exports and promote “Made in Azerbaijan” abroad.
Depending on the support mechanisms, the costs relating to their realization are fully or partially covered by the state budget.
“Made in Azerbaijan” is an initiative aimed at entering new markets. The strategic markets for Azerbaijan are also considered to be EU, the countries of the Persian Gulf, China, the CIS countries, Turkey and Russia.
EU is one of the largest markets in the world. And, ultimately, this market is an important direction for entrepreneurs in terms of both competitive opportunities and sustainable income.
Earlier, Chairman of Centre for Economic and Social Development Vugar Bayramov told Azernews that currently, the Azerbaijani government is working to create an Azerbaijani shelf in supermarkets of the EU.
AZPROMO was established by the Economy Ministry in 2003 with the aim to contribute to the economic development through attracting foreign investments and stimulating exports in the non-oil sector.
The number of Azerbaijan trade partners increased from 165 to 186 countries. Non-oil export of the county amounted to almost $1.4 billion in 11 months of 2017, increasing by 22 percent during the year.
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