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Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan eye to develop relations in all areas

19 September 2018 13:33 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan eye to develop relations in all areas

By Sara Israfilbayova

Baku and Astana aim to develop and expand cooperation in all areas, including tourism.

Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan Rashad Mammadov said that Azerbaijan is the most important trade and economic partner of Kazakhstan in the South Caucasus region.

“In 2017, the Kazakh-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission adopted a road map for trade and economic cooperation for 2018-2020. Its implementation has already led to a significant increase in trade turnover between the two countries,” the ambassador noted.

Mammadov went on to say that such results have been achieved thanks to the efforts of the relevant state agencies and the activity of entrepreneurs of both countries, as well as due to the fact that Baku and Astana aim to develop the non-oil sector of the economy.

“In particular, Azerbaijan has ordered 50 electric locomotives from the Electric Locomotives Assembly Factory (Electrovoz Kurastyru Zauyty), which was constructed in Astana with participation of the French company Alstom. Total amount of the order is 288 million euros. In turn, the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan plans to open trade houses in a number of cities of Kazakhstan, as Azerbaijani enterprises, especially the companies of the light industry produce high-quality and competitive products,” the diplomat stressed.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in August, 1992. Both countries are full members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Turkic Council, Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan attach great importance to the development of bilateral trade and economic ties. There is a successfully operating Intergovernmental Commission, and business forums are held regularly.

For Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan the most important points of cooperation appear to be the contacts on energy issues, oil transportation, agriculture, and the use of the Caspian Sea as an important international traffic artery.

Now the two countries are working on promotion of a joint transport project - the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), which involves cargo transportation from China via Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and further via Turkey and Ukraine to Europe.

In the first half of the year the trade turnover between the countries increased by 56 percent, as compared to the same period last year.

The trade turnover amounted to $142.1 million in 2017 and to $142 million for the seven months of 2018.

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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