Azerbaijan,Uzbekistan discuss expansion of cooperation
By Amina Nazarli
Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan exchanged views on the current level and the development of bilateral economic relations, Azerbaijani embassy in Uzbekistan told Trend.
Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijan’s Economy and Industry Minister met Ulugbek Razukulov, Uzbekistan's Deputy Prime Minister to discuss further expansion of cooperation as part of his visit to Tashkent.
Huseyn Guliyev, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Uzbekistan attended the meeting.
As part of the visit, Mustafayev also met Galina Saidova, the Economy Minister and Elyor Ganiev, the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade Elyor Ganiev.
The sides hailed the relations between the two countries and
peoples as friendly, underlining the fact that the heads of state
-- Ilham Aliyev and Islam Karimov’s mutual visits gave impetus to
reach current level of cooperation.
During the meeting, both sides exchanged views on expansion of
economic cooperation, development of relations in the field of
transport, carrying Uzbek cargo through Azerbaijan to the world
market, increasing the volume of trade exchange, the sale of cars
of different brands that manufactured in Uzbekistan and a number of
other issues.
Uzbekistan has the opportunity to increase its volume of export of grain, cotton, fertilizers, to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, for its part, can sell petroleum products to Uzbekistan and take part in the projects for production and exploration of hydrocarbons in this country.
The sides highlighted the two countries’ national exhibitions held in Tashkent and Baku a few years ago. These exhibitions reflected the economic achievements of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
The trade turnover between the two countries after the exhibitions almost doubled, and further work in this direction is underway.
The trade turnover between the two countries constitutes $50 million, the embassy said.
The sides as well expressed the necessity of organizing new exhibitions and holding business forums in Baku and Tashkent in terms of new opportunities for further development of cooperation.
The diplomatic relations between two countries were established in October 1995. The two countries have signed over 100 bilateral documents.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan amounted to $19.2 million in January-April 2014. Goods worth $11.67 million were exported to Uzbekistan while the import from Uzbekistan amounted to $7.53 million in the reported period.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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