Azernews.Az

BAKU – Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan is due to arrive in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan autonomous republic on Tuesday to attend a joint business forum.

Caglayan will be accompanied by a delegation of about 120 people, including representatives of the neighboring country’s companies and public organizations, Ankara news agency reported.

Caglayan will hold meetings with Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev and Chairman of Nakhchivan’s Supreme Majlis (Assembly) Vasif Talibov. The Turkish minister is also expected to visit major industrial enterprises in Nakhchivan and a border crossing between Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The talks will focus on developing economic and trade relations between Turkey and Nakhchivan and joint investments in the autonomous republic, Turkish officials said.

In 1921 pro-Armenian Soviet leaders granted Azerbaijan’s Zangazur region to Armenia, which geographically separated Nakhchivan from Azerbaijan. Armenia, which unleashed a war on the neighboring South Caucasus republic with territorial claims, fully took the region under economic blockade in 1991.

Nakhchivan is the only link between Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Turkey has turned into Nakhchivan’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 60 percent of its foreign trade. The Dilucu-Sadarak checkpoint, set up on the 11 km long Turkey-Nakhchivan border has been operating 24/7 since June 2008.

According to Turkey’s official sources, in 2009 the country exported goods worth $41.5 million to Nakhchivan through the Dilucu-Sadarak checkpoint, while its imports from the autonomous republic made up $1.5 million.