Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Turkey and Azerbaijan, enjoying a long and fruitful trade relationship for decades, will sign an agreement on preferential trade.

Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci made the statement on September 27, but he didn’t specify the exact date of signing the agreement.

The minister noted that the development of trade relations with Azerbaijan is one of the most important priorities for Turkey, according to Turkish media.

Previously, Turkish Science, Industry and Technology Minister Faruk Özlü informed about intention to sign the preferential trade agreement.

Turkey and Azerbaijan have agreed to make a preferential trade deal and its technical negotiations are underway now, Özlü then said.

Turkey is one of the biggest trade partners of Azerbaijan. Trade turnover with Turkey amounted to $1.83 billion (with a specific weight of 14.65 percent of total foreign trade) in eight months of 2017, according to State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.

The export of Azerbaijani goods totaled $1.026 billion (14.2 percent of the country’s total exports).

Turkish companies are sitting in a robust position, when it comes to trading with Azerbaijan.

Although recent statistics revealed Italy leads Azerbaijan’s list of trade partners, Turkey took Italy’s place in 2016 by reaching trade turnover levels of $1.4 billion.

Confectionery, including chocolate and baked goods, is the largest product group exported from Turkish producers to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s State Statistical Committee data for 2015 also showed some other areas where Turkish firms are making headway in Azerbaijan. Turkish producers ship 864 tons of poultry meat, worth approximately $575,000 to Azerbaijan, while a further 354 tons of seafood with a value of $189,300 was also exported.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan exports its ‘blue fuel’ to neighboring country. In the first half of 2017 Azerbaijan delivered more than 3.34 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey, as compared to 3.25 billion cubic meters delivered in the same period of 2016.

The share of Azerbaijan in the total volume of gas imported to Turkey in the first half of the year was 12 percent.

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

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