Business - basis of Russian-Azerbaijani bilateral cooperation
By Rashid Shirinov
Business, in fact, is the basis of the entire Russian-Azerbaijani bilateral cooperation, Minister for Economic Development of Russia Maxim Oreshkin said at a meeting of the Russian-Azerbaijani Business Council on July 17.
He noted that the Business Council can act as a generator of business ideas in the Azerbaijani direction, an accumulator of systemic issues and a source of proposals for their resolution.
“The activity of business councils contributes significantly to the increase of trade turnover between the two countries. In the first five months of 2018, it exceeded $900 million, thus increasing by almost 21 percent compared to the same period in 2017,” Oreshkin noted.
The minister said that about 50 Russian companies are members of the Business Council. These include banks and industrial companies interested in implementing promising projects in Azerbaijan.
He also mentioned that the volume of accumulated Russian investments in the Azerbaijani economy is about $1.5 billion. The investments were made in such areas as the oil and gas sector, engineering, pharmaceuticals, chemical industry, and banking.
“The Azerbaijani side also shows interest in increasing investments. First of all, in the agro-industrial sector and the tourism industry,” Oreshkin said.
Speaking of the key areas of bilateral cooperation, he noted the elimination of trade barriers, development of transport potential, and creation of joint ventures in Azerbaijan.
During the meeting, head of R-Pharm JSC Alexey Repik was elected the Chairman of the Russian-Azerbaijani Business Council.
“The candidacy of Alexey Repik for the post is the best suited for the implementation of the goals set before us,” Oreshkin stressed.
Azerbaijan is one of the main economic partners of Russia among the CIS countries. The strong cooperation between the countries plays an important role in the development of Russian-Azerbaijani trade and economic relations and in the increase of the trade turnover.
At present, enterprises of more than 70 regions of Russia cooperate directly with Azerbaijan. Fifteen regions of Russia have relevant agreements with Azerbaijan on trade and economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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