Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

The 13th meeting of the State Commission for Economic, Trade and Humanitarian Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran was held in Baku on March 15.

Azerbaijan and Iran are discussing an agreement on the construction of a road bridge and a pedestrian crossing over the Astarachay river, Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev said, Trend reports.

He was speaking at the meeting of the State Commission.

The minister also raised the issue of connecting the Iran-Azerbaijan-Russia and Iran-Azerbaijan-Georgia electricity systems.

“I think that Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey may take the appropriate measures to create an energy corridor and expand trilateral energy cooperation,” he said.

The minister also noted that fiber optic cable will be laid between Azerbaijan and Iran. He said that agreement was reached between Azerbaijan and Iran on fiber optic cables, and the two countries will implement an important project in the field of information and communication technologies.

Speaking about at the 13th meeting of the State Commission, Mustafayev said that the number of Iranian companies registered in Azerbaijan exceeded 1000 and the volume of investments made by Iran to Azerbaijan reached $ 3.4 billion.

The minister stressed that significant progress in trade has been achieved, which is one of the main directions of mutual cooperation. Thus, trade turnover in 2018 increased by 74 percent to $ 446 million. However, there is a great potential for increasing trade turnover and diversifying its structure.

Touching upon the cooperation in transport and transit sphere, Mustafayev noted that significant steps have been taken to develop the North-South International Transport Corridor, which has a historic significance. Azerbaijan has succeeded in establishing an appropriate infrastructure in its territory on this project.

At the same time, the railroads of the two countries were connected in Astara, the railway bridge over the Astarachay River was put into operation and the first phase of the dry cargo terminal was put into operation. Opening of the Qazvin-Rasht railway on March 6 is a very important step towards the development of the South-West transport corridor not only in the North-South Corridor.

Shahin Mustafayev noted that our relations in agriculture, health, education, culture and tourism are constantly developing. In recent years, the number of Iranian citizens visiting Azerbaijan has increased. So, more than 240,000 Iranians visited Azerbaijan in 2018. According to the number of foreigners receiving visas through ASAN, Iranian citizens are in the first place

Speaking about prospects of cooperation, Mustafayev said that there are great opportunities for expansion of cooperation in industry, agriculture, trade, small and medium enterprises, customs, finance and banking, ICT, ecology, melioaration, humanitarian spheres and discussions to be held at the State Commission meeting will be important for the realization of this potential.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of Iran, co-chairman of the State Commission Farhad Dejpasand emphasized that his country attaches great importance to the expansion of relations with Azerbaijan and noted that Azerbaijan-Iran relations have reached a high level in recent years.

Dejpasand stressed that the two countries support the development of the Iranian-Azerbaijani relations and the work of the State Commission.

The Iranian minister said that there is a great potential for the development of relations in the fields of industry, health, agriculture, tourism, transit and transportation. High political relations between our countries create favorable conditions for deepening economic cooperation.

At the end of the meeting, the Protocol on the outcomes of the 13th meeting of the State Commission for Economic, Trade and Humanitarian Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran was signed by co-chairs of the Commission - Shahin Mustafayev and Farhad Dejpasand.

The document that included the issues discussed at the meeting and the future directions of the Commission's activities envisages the expansion of cooperation in trade, small and medium-sized businesses, industry, transport, customs, agriculture, energy, water and environment, food security, investment, ICT, tourism, humanitarian and other spheres.

Within the framework of the State Commission meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding on the production of car spare parts in Neftchala Industrial Zone signed between the Iranian Etihad Company and the Azermash OJSC of Azerbaijan, as well as on Bus Production in Hajigabul Industrial Zone between "Qartal" and "Azermash" OJSC.

Chairman of the Board of the Azermash OJSC Emin Akhundov noted that the foundation of the bus production plant in Hajigabul Industrial District will be laid this year and the construction of the facility will be completed by the end of 2020.

He pointed out that the plant is planning to produce 500 buses of both European and Asian countries at the initial stage. 100 people will be employed at the enterprise, which will operate on 5 hectares of land. The cost of the project is 11 million manat ($6.47 million).

In addition, spare parts of the car will be produced at Neftchala Industrial Zone. The cost of this project is 7 million manat ($4.12 million) and will allow about 70 people to be employed. The share of Azermash in the bus factory will be 25 percent and the share in the spare parts project will be 50 percent.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan already have a joint automobile factory Khazar, which has produced more than one thousand cars since the start of operations. The joint Azerbaijani-Iranian plant Khazar in the Neftchala industrial zone opened on March 29, 2018, during a two-day visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani-Iranian relations have developed and reached a new stage over the past four years as a result of mutual efforts.

Azerbaijan and Iran share common values, history and traditions that bound them. The two countries are eager to develop their non-oil economy, integrate regional transport networks and boost mutually advantageous business projects in order to stimulate trade volume.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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