National wine house opens in Russia
By Leman Mammadova
Azerbaijan strives to strengthen the position of its non-oil products abroad and to reach new markets.
Today there is a great demand for Azerbaijani wines in foreign markets since they have always distinguished by quality and taste.
Russia is currently the main export market for Azerbaijani wine. The country exported 618,300 decaliters of wines and wine products to Russia in 2018 which cost $6.4 million out of total wine exports of $7.5 million.
Azerbaijan intends to increase the sales of wine products in the Russian market. In this regard, the Wine House of Azerbaijan opened in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on July 8.
Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev and Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov took part in the opening ceremony.
As many as 120 wine products and alcoholic beverages of Azerbaijani producers are presented in the Wine House. This is the third wine house of Azerbaijan opened abroad. Currently, the wine houses of Azerbaijan operate in two cities of China. Azerbaijan also plans to open a wine house in St. Petersburg in the second half of 2019.
On the same day, Shahin Mustafayev and Denis Manturov discussed issues of economic cooperation on the sidelines of the international industrial exhibition INNOPROM-2019 in Yekaterinburg.
Manturov noted that the Russian-Azerbaijani trade turnover amounted to $561 million in January-March 2019, which is 10 percent more than a year earlier. In his words, the exports increased by 7.3 percent up to $412 million.
He recalled that the sides discussed agricultural trade during the previous meeting in April 2019. “The indicators of mutual trade are growing; I hope that this trend will continue this year. The next meeting may take place before the end of the year in Moscow,” he said.
Mustafayev, in turn, stressed that the international industrial exhibition INNOPROM demonstrates successful results and is important for interregional relations. “We can reach a new level only through cooperation,” he said.
Yevgeny Kuyvashev, Governor of the Sverdlovsk region, said that according to the results of 2018, the mutual trade turnover of the region with Azerbaijan amounted to $95 million, which is almost twice as high as in 2017.
He noted that largely successful interaction is due to the implementation of the agreement concluded between the government of the Sverdlovsk region and the government of Azerbaijan.
“For the Middle Urals industrial region, the priority for the development of bilateral cooperation is the development of industrial cooperation,” he added. “The region is also interested in increasing exports of high-tech products of our enterprises. Health, culture, education are also among the promising areas for building mutually beneficial relations.”
On the sidelines of the INNOPROM-2019, Russian Sinara Group and Azerbaijan ATEF Group of Companies signed a memorandum of understanding.
The document was signed by the General Director of the Sinara Group Mikhail Khodorovsky and the Deputy Chairman of the ATEF Supervisory Board Ramiz Rzayev.
In accordance with the memorandum, the parties identified priority areas for joint business development in the field of transport engineering, including the supply of traction rolling stock and track equipment for laying and repairing railway tracks. The sides also confirmed their intentions to implement joint projects in the energy sector.
Currently, ATEF unites 5 large plants for the production of electrical equipment with a range of more than 3,000 items, as well as wires of various configurations and building structures located in Azerbaijan.
An agreement on supply of spare parts between Ganja Automobile Plant and Russia’s Kamaz OJSC, a protocol of intent on cooperation between AZPROMO and Russia’s Gazprombank were also signed within the framework of the event.
Azerbaijan is one of the main economic partners of Russia among the CIS countries and Russia remains one of Azerbaijan’s main foreign trade partners. Interregional cooperation plays an important role in the development of Russian-Azerbaijani trade and economic relations and the increase in trade turnover. Russia ranks first in terms of export of non-oil products from Azerbaijan.
So far, the value of investments by Russian companies in Azerbaijan amounted to $4.4 billion, and the Azerbaijani investments in Russia stood at $1.2 billion. In 2018, the trade turnover between two countries exceeded $2.5 billion.
Russia is a strategic partner of Azerbaijan. The legal framework between the countries includes over 180 documents, including about 50 in the economic sphere.
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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888
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