Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

Indian businessmen are interested in deepening the cooperation with Azerbaijani partners.

The entrepreneurs of both countries should cooperate more closely as the economic relations between the countries do not reflect the existing potentials and opportunities, Mammad Musayev, the President of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations of Azerbaijan (ASK), said during a meeting with Indian Ambassador to AzerbaijanBawitlung Vanlalvawna on 20 September.

Musayev stressed that the Confederation is ready to support the work to be carried out in this direction.

“India is one of major partners importing oil and oil products from Azerbaijan. At the same time, cooperation is developing in the fields of pharmaceuticals, information technology and health,” he said.

Musayev briefed on the investment climate, state support for entrepreneurship, reforms in Azerbaijan, and invited Indian entrepreneurs to invest in the country.

“Azerbaijan has a geostrategic location and industrial parks have been created in the country. India can invest in the textile and pharmaceutical sectors of these agro-parks and thus can get simplified access to even larger markets,” he noted.

Vanlalvawna, in turn, noted that Indian entrepreneurs are studying investment opportunities in Azerbaijan and there are already appeals to the embassy.

He asked for the support of the Confederation to draw up a more complete response to these appeals and identify the most attractive areas for investment.

In his words, a delegation of the Industrial Corporation of India will visit Azerbaijan on November 6-8. “This visit is a very good opportunity to do specific things, and we would like the delegation to meet with representatives of the Confederation.”

Musayev proposed to consider the possibility of creating a bilateral Business Council with more active and interested entrepreneurs from both countries for more effective building of cooperation.

Presently, as many as 230 companies with Indian capital operate in Azerbaijan, whose investments in the country's economy has totaled $1.2 billion.

Azerbaijan and India are working on the preparation of an agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments.

The volume of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and India amounted to $930 million in 2018, $720 million of which accounted for imports of Azerbaijan from India. Azerbaijan imports many goods from India including pharmaceuticals products, engineering goods, automobiles and spares, agricultural and meat products and IT services.

Indian companies are interested in developing mutually beneficial partnership with Azerbaijan, particularly in agriculture, IT and communications, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and education.

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

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