Baku, Hanoi to cooperate in transport sphere
By Nigar Abbasova
Azerbaijan and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam may extend their cooperation to the sphere of transport.
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Vietnam Anar Imanov told Trend that Vietnamese railways, the state-owned operator of the railway system in Vietnam, is interested in strengthening cooperation with Azerbaijan and in more efficient use of railway transportation.
The official underlined the importance of international transport projects, including the North-South transport corridor and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK), the implementation of which is currently underway. The realization of the projects is expected to reduce time and expenditures required for the transportation of freight from the countries of Southeast Asia to Europe and backward.
Imanov said that implementation of the transport projects will accelerate delivery of goods from Vietnam to Azerbaijan and backward, which in turn will create favorable conditions for the development of trade relations between the countries. For the time being, Vietnam uses marine transport corridors to carry out the delivery of its goods.
The opportunities for expanding mutually beneficial trade and economic relations, as well as cooperation in such spheres as transport, agriculture, and energy will be discussed during the first meeting of the Azerbaijan-Vietnam Intergovernmental Commission for Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, planned to be held in the near future.
The North-South transportation corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia. Moreover, it will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.
At the initial stage, the North-South corridor will transport 5 million tons of cargo per year with further expansion of transportation to over 10 million tons.
Along with making a great contribution to the diversification of Azerbaijan's economy the project is expected to turn the country into a major transport hub.
Freight is expected to be transported through the territory of India and further through the Persian Gulf, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia in the direction of Scandinavian countries and Northern Europe within 14 days.
The trade turnover between the countries totaled $51.9 million in the first half 2016, with some $47.4 million accounting for the Azerbaijani side, and $4.5 million for Vietnam.
The diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Vietnam were established on September 23, 1992. Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Vietnam in 2013.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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