Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The trade turnover between Bavaria and Azerbaijan reached about 1 billion euros in 2016, while the figure can be higher, as the two enjoy enormous potential.

Secretary of State in the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology, Franz Josef Pschierer made the remarks during the Bavaria-Azerbaijan Business Forum held in Baku on May 31.

The Forum brought together over 120 business representatives from Azerbaijan and Bavaria in the field of mechanical and plant engineering, construction, information and communication technologies, environmental technology, medical services, consumer goods and tourism.

"Bavaria and Azerbaijan have friendly relations. Meetings are regularly held and business circles of Bavaria are interested in cooperation with Azerbaijani entrepreneurs," he said.

Until the end of 2017, according to the Secretary of State, the population of Bavaria, one of 16 federal states of Germany, will reach 13 million. Bavaria's GDP is 570 billion euros, which is a very important indicator, according to him.

“Bavaria holds leading positions in Germany's foreign economic activities, and if Bavaria was a separate country in the EU, it would rank seventh among European countries. But we have no desire to separate from Germany. Bavaria is an integral part of Germany and we have the most competitive economy in the world. We have our own export policy. Last year, our exports amounted to 185 billion euros. The economy of Bavaria is very rich and export-oriented,” Pschierer said.

German companies have invested $500 million in Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijani companies have invested $100 million in Germany so far, Head of Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation Rufat Mammadov said at the event.

Highlighting that 200 German companies operate in Azerbaijan, Mammadov noted that German companies have invested $500 million in the Azerbaijani economy over the past 25 years. Azerbaijan's investments in the German economy exceeded $100 million over the same period.

“The Azerbaijani economy has integrated to the world economy, so global changes affect our country as well, but difficulties are temporary,” he said. “Taking into account that mainly oil is exported from Azerbaijan, the income of our country depends on the change in oil prices.”

“We began to carry out reforms to develop the country’s non-oil sector in 2015,” Mammadov said, stressing that special privileges have been in place since 2016 to stimulate the country’s non-oil exports.

He mentioned that the country’s non-oil exports increased by 22 percent in the first four months of 2017 compared to the same period of 2016.

Azerbaijan is an important trade partner of Germany, Pschierer said in his interview to Azertac.

“We are trying to develop our cooperation further,” he said, noting that there are a lot of German companies, operating successfully in Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan is the third important trade partner of Bavaria in CIS and currently attaches great importance to diversification of the national economy,” he said, further elaborating that the country is an interesting market for quality products made in Bavaria, a long-term cooperation projects.

“There is great potential for Bavarian companies in the field of environment and energy appliances, construction businesses, as well as infrastructure, mechanical engineering and production facilities”, Pschierer added.