Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The Association for Azerbaijan-Arab Countries Cooperation (AACC) signed an agreement on cooperation with the Qatar’s Daru ‘l-Arab media group on January 29.

The agreement was signed by the AACC chairman Elshan Rahimov and the executive director of the media group Jaber Salim Al-Harami.

The agreement reads that Daru ‘l-Arab will be covering the activities of AACC in the Arab press. The media group also commits itself to publishing information on the development of tourism, industry and trade in Azerbaijan in order to attract Arab businessmen to the country. A special focus will be placed on publication of articles on the tourism potential of Azerbaijan with the aim of attracting Arab tourists to the country.

Addressing the event, Rahimov noted that this agreement will significantly expand the activities of the AACC.

“This agreement will make it possible to ensure a dialogue between potential business partners, improve awareness of investment prospects, prepare various business projects and in general strengthen relations between Azerbaijan and the Arab countries,” the chairman said.

Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with Arab countries amounted to $324.53 million in 2017, while export of Azerbaijani goods accounted for $259.72 million of this amount, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan. In particular, the country’s trade turnover with Qatar amounted to $4.75 million last year.

As for the growing interest of Arabian tourists to Azerbaijan observed in recent years, it has several reasons, such as short distance to Azerbaijan, opening of more direct flights, beautiful nature of the country, halal foods in restaurants, etc.

Therefore, many tourists from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Iraq, and other Arab countries choose Azerbaijan as the country for their vacation. There were 4.5 times more tourists from Saudi Arabia, 7.4 times more from Oman, and 1.9 times more from the UAE in 2017 compared to 2016.

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

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