Azernews.Az

Turkey expects an increase in its trade turnover with Azerbaijan to $4 billion by the end of 2012, the Turkish economy minister said in Baku on Tuesday.

"The trade turnover between Turkey and Azerbaijan amounted to $3.4 billion in 2011, while in the first half of 2012 it was $2 billion," Zafer Caglayan said at a ministerial meeting of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS). "Such pace of development of trade relations in the first half-year is grounds to expect that by the end of the year the trade turnover will reach $4 billion."

Caglayan is attending the second meeting of CCTS economy ministers in Baku.

Caglayan said Turkey's trade with Kazakhstan last year amounted to $4 billion, and with Kyrgyzstan to $232 million.

"Over the past ten years Turkey's trade turnover with Azerbaijan has grown ten-fold," the minister said.

He said bilateral trade turnover among the Council's member countries amounted to $9 billion in 2011.

"With the total foreign trade turnover of the four countries at $545 billion, the share of bilateral trade between these countries remains low -- 1.7 percent," Caglayan said.

The first meeting of the CCTS economy ministers was held in the Kazakh capital Astana in October 2011. It was attended by ministers and deputy ministers of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

The CCTS, founded by the four countries, was established in 2009 as an international intergovernmental organization, with the aim of promoting comprehensive cooperation among Turkic-speaking countries.