Netherlands invests $800 million in non-oil sector in Azerbaijan
By Nigar Orujova
The Dutch investment in Azerbaijan’s non-oil sector reached an estimated $800 million, said Shahin Mustafayev, the Azerbaijani economy and industry minister.
He made the remark at the Netherlands-Azerbaijan Business Forum held in Maastricht. The forum attracted about 50 Azerbaijani entrepreneurs in the field of agriculture, food industry, construction, finance, energy and consulting.
Addressing the forum, Mustafayev said the relations between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands based on the principle of friendship and mutual respect are developing actively.
"Mutual high-level visits, meetings and signed documents play a special role in the expansion of bilateral relations," he added.
"At present, 125 companies with Dutch investments are operating in the fields of services, trade, industry, banking, insurance, construction and transport in Azerbaijan,” he said. “The Netherlands to date invested about $800 million in the non-oil sector of the Azerbaijani economy. Dutch companies are also involved in ongoing projects in Azerbaijan as contractors.”
Business circles of Azerbaijan and the Netherlands held bilateral meetings within the business forum.
Dutch companies are mainly investing in the non-oil and non-financial fields. The Netherlands currently occupies fourth place in the non-oil sector FDI rankings after Turkey, the UK and the U.S.
Relations between the two countries develop gradually especially in the economic sector. Trade turnover between the countries increases annually.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the Netherlands in January-March this year amounted to $53.43 million, which is 30.5 percent more than the same period last year ($40.95 million), the Azerbaijan State Customs Committee reported.
Following, a meeting of the two countries business circles will be held in Baku as part of the annual governors meeting of the Asian Development Bank on May 3-5.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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