Trade with Belarus exceeds $120 mln
By Leman Mammadova
Azerbaijan and Belarus are going to further increase mutual trade by using the rich cooperation opportunities in various fields.
The two countries have a powerful scientific, technical, technological and production potential that will be actively used to develop bilateral cooperation.
The trade volume between Azerbaijan and Belarus exceeded $120 million in January-July this year, said the National Statistical Committee of Belarus.
In the reporting period, the volume of imports from Belarus to Azerbaijan amounted to $109.62 million, and the volume of exports from Azerbaijan to Belarus was $11.44 million.
Last year, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Belarus was about $204 million, which is approximately $56 million more than the figure of 2017.
Products of the machine engineering industry, petrochemistry, woodworking, pharmaceuticals, military-technical products made up the main items of Belarusian export to Azerbaijan. In turn, Azerbaijan mainly exports petrochemicals, vegetables, fruits and other non-oil products to Belarus.
Azerbaijan is one of the important and reliable economic partners of Belarus. More than 250 companies are involved in the bilateral trade, and they carry out deliveries of hundreds of products. More than 40 Azerbaijani companies are dealers and distributors of Belarusian companies in Azerbaijan.
The legal and organizational framework has been set up between the countries that allows the implementation of joint projects. The Agreement on Investment Promotion and Mutual Protection between the Governments of Belarus and Azerbaijan came into force in 2011, which accelerated the bilateral economic cooperation.
Azerbaijan’s first ever trading house was opened in Belarusian capital Minsk on May 26, 2017. The trading house presents Azerbaijan's domestic products.
The cooperation between the countries is developing in the fields of agriculture, engineering, petrochemistry, education, medicine, culture, youth policy and sports.
Two countries also closely cooperate in the field of machine engineering. So far, more than 10,000 Belarusian tractors and specialized equipment have been assembled at the Ganja Automobile Plant, which is the largest assembly plant of Belarusian tractors outside the Eurasian Economic Union.
The cooperation in the military and military-technical sphere is also at a high level and it contributes to the strengthening of the armed forces of the two countries.
Recently, Azerbaijani-Belarusian enterprise for the assembly of tractors of the Minsk Tractor Plant (MTZ) in Turkey was put into operation.
Meanwhile, Belarus is interested in the North-South project and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, and aims to create the Minsk-Baku railway route. Earlier, Belarusian Railway and Azerbaijan Railways signed an agreement on mutually beneficial cooperation for the interaction of the railways of the two countries to contribute to the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor.
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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888
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