Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani entrepreneurs are keen to increase the volume of investments in Turkey, said Rufat Mammadov.

Head of the Azerbaijan Export and Investments Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) made the remark during the Azerbaijani-Turkish business forum held in Baku on May 5.

Currently, Azerbaijan is the largest foreign investor in Turkey, he said, adding that Azerbaijan, in turn, created all the conditions for increasing investments from Turkish entrepreneurs.

Mammadov noted that for further expansion of the trade and economic relations between the two brotherly countries, Turkey should eliminate customs duties on the import of Azerbaijani products.

Ahmet Ataker, Trade Counselor of Turkey’s Embassy in Azerbaijan, talking to Trend on the sidelines of the event, said that the two countries determined 68 fields on the free trade agreement.

Currently, the preparation work on the agreement is underway and the signing ceremony is expected for the end of the year.

He said that this agreement will be the beginning. “The main target of Turkey is signing of a free trade agreement with Azerbaijan,” Ataker said.

Ali Ihsan Genc, Chairman of Turkish and Azerbaijani Businessmen and Industrialists Public Association told Trend that Turkish companies manufacturing products in Azerbaijan can export them into the third countries.

He said that production of goods in Azerbaijan is very profitable since the products produced in Azerbaijan can be exported to CIS countries without duty.

Speaking at the event, Turkish Eastern Black Sea Exporters Association Hamdi Gurdaoglu said that Turkey is ready to invest in the logistics and trade sectors.

Gurdogan added that Turkey’s Eastern Black Sea region is the closest region to Azerbaijan. “There is a good potential to strengthen trade relations of this region with Azerbaijan and we should think about acceleration of this process,” he said.

To date, Turkish businessmen have invested over $9 billion in the Azerbaijani economy. At the same time, thanks to the operations of the Azerbaijani state-owned SOCAR, Azerbaijan's investments in Turkey will reach $17-20 billion.

Trade turnover with Turkey in the first quarter of 2017 reached almost $553 million, and as many as $308.7 million of this amount accounted for exports to that country, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.

Over the year, the trade turnover between the two countries has more than doubled. At the same time, during the same period, exports to Turkey increased by 5.2 times.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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