Azerbaijan intends to expand export geography to Persian Gulf markets
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan plans to send two export missions to the UAE by the end of 2018 in an effort to expand the geography of exports of national products to the Persian Gulf markets, the Trade Representative of Azerbaijan in Dubai Elnur Aliyev told Trend on August 19.
“In particular, negotiations continue on the export of fruits and vegetables, fruit juices, honey, milk powder, meat, tea, nuts to the Persian Gulf countries and access to trade networks operating in the region,” he said.
Aliyev noted that the main purpose of export missions with the participation of local producers is to promote the national brand ‘Made in Azerbaijan’ to the markets of the UAE and other Gulf countries.
He further reminded that last year export missions of Azerbaijan were sent to Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
“Now the parties are negotiating in order to finally determine the place and date of the meetings. Last year, the export missions were sent in November and December, and most likely this year the visit of the missions will occur in the same period,” the trade representative said.
Aliyev mentioned that today there are many medium and small enterprises in Azerbaijan that want to enter the Dubai market, so more than 10 Azerbaijani companies are expected to participate in the upcoming export mission to Dubai.
He added that the quality of Azerbaijani agricultural products exported to Dubai is very high, but given that the Dubai market is very developed, a lot of attention is paid to the stability of supply in addition to quality.
“In my opinion, this is one of the important criteria for the successful promotion of export goods and products to the competitive markets of the UAE. Our companies must seriously catch up in this direction so that to achieve the desired results,” Aliyev said.
The trade representative added that Azerbaijan has done serious work by stating its export potential, and agreements have been reached in this direction not only with the UAE, but also with the leading European countries.
“In the future, it is planned to hold negotiations in order to expand the geography of exports of national products, in particular to the markets of the Persian Gulf countries,” he said, noting that Azerbaijani products have already been demonstrated at exhibitions held in Dubai (Gulfood 2017) and Germany (Prowein), where 20 Azerbaijani companies participated.
Azerbaijan, focusing on the export-led growth strategy, aims to expand the list of its foreign trade partners in the near future. The country has already sent export missions to Qatar, Kazakhstan, Germany, Afghanistan, the UAE, Pakistan, etc.
Development of the non-oil sector mainly depends on the export of non-oil products and the main goal for the country is to expand access to new markets. The volume of non-oil exports from Azerbaijan in the first half of 2018 amounted to $846,5 million, which is 15 percent more compared to the same period of 2017.
The EU, the Persian Gulf countries, China, the CIS countries, Turkey and Russia are considered to be the strategic markets for Azerbaijan.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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