Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic is growing rapidly, Jan Jindrich, secretary for economic and commercial affairs at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Azerbaijan, said on December 19.

“The trade turnover between the two countries increased by more than 100 percent in January-October 2017 as compared to the same period of the previous year,” noted Jindrich at a press conference dedicated to the results of the Azerbaijani-Czech relations in 2017.

He specified that Azerbaijan-Czech Republic trade turnover reached $924 million in ten months of this year. As many as $846 million accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products, while the import of Czech products to Azerbaijan totaled $78 million.

Jindrich noted that according to the Statistics Committee of the Czech Republic, the country is the seventh biggest partner of Azerbaijan in terms of exports and 15th in terms of imports.

“The main product exported from Azerbaijan to the Czech Republic is crude oil, the volume of which totals 2-2.5 million tons per year, and makes up a third of the oil consumed in the Czech Republic,” the secretary added.

Jindrich further pointed out that supplies from Azerbaijan have a strong impact on the energy security of his country, and at the same time, Azerbaijan is an attractive country for Czech investors.

“Over the past ten years, Czech banks, both public and private, invested more than $2 billion in the Azerbaijani economy, which includes the Czech Republic in the list of the top 10 investors in the economy of Azerbaijan,” he noted.

Vitezslav Pivonka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Azerbaijan, who also addressed the event in Baku, said that direct flights may be launched between the countries.

“Previously, there were direct flights between our countries, which were suspended for a number of reasons, the main one of which I consider the economic one, because flights are also business,” said the ambassador. “However, negotiations on this issue are underway between our airlines, and I hope that this inconvenience will be eliminated soon.”

Currently, flights between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic are carried out with a transfer in Istanbul.

Pivonka also noted that Czech-made Tatra trucks, which are planned to be assembled in Azerbaijan, will be exported to foreign markets.

“We do not have detailed information about the volume of production, but we can say that Czech producers have arrived in Ganja, and negotiations are already underway to assemble Tatra trucks in Azerbaijan, and production volumes will be calculated not only for the domestic market of Azerbaijan,” said the diplomat.

He also noted that 500 Tatra trucks and 1,000 Škoda cars entered the Azerbaijani market and these figures will continue to grow in the future.

Ganja Automobile Plant, which ranks among majors of the automotive industry in Azerbaijan and Tatra signed a memorandum at the Czech Embassy in Azerbaijan on December 18. Production of various models of Tatra trucks will begin in Azerbaijan from next year, according to the agreement.

Consul of the Czech Embassy Josef Bohac, in turn, noted that his country is increasing the issuance of long-term visas for Azerbaijani citizens.

“Our goal is to attract Azerbaijani tourists to the Czech Republic, in particular to the Czech resorts,” he said, noting that last year, the number of tourist Schengen visas issued to Azerbaijani citizens to visit the country decreased to 6,500 compared to 8,000 visas issued in 2015.

Bohac added that this year, a little more than 5,000 visas were issued to Azerbaijani citizens, which is a downward tendency in the number of Azerbaijani tourists arriving in the Czech Republic.

Despite the decrease in the number of issued tourist visas, the number of visas issued to Azerbaijani citizens for long-term stay in the Czech Republic is increasing.

“We issued more than 120 long-term visas to Azerbaijani citizens in 2017, which testifies to Azerbaijani citizens’ great interest in obtaining long-term visas to the Czech Republic,” the consul said.

He further noted that the number of Czech tourists visiting Azerbaijan is also increasing, and added that the embassies of both countries and relevant organizations are working to increase the current figures in this sphere.

The diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic were established in January 1993. Today, Azerbaijan significantly increases the energy security of the Czech Republic since the national oil provides a third of the annual consumption of the country. Therefore, Azerbaijan, which has made a significant contribution to the diversification of Czech energy resources, has become an important strategic partner of this European country.

Czech entrepreneurs, in turn, play active role in Azerbaijan’s economy, investing about $1.3 billion so far. Czech companies as contractors are involved in various projects in the country, totaling $16 billion.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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