Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijani companies can participate in creating a logistics center in western Kazakhstan to assist in the provision of food security in the region, Azerbaijani Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev said at a meeting with Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Krymbek Kusherbayev in Baku, the Economic Development Ministry said Thursday.

"A visit by an Azerbaijani delegation to Aktau to explore cooperation opportunities in western Kazakhstan and organization of a joint business forum is expected," Mustafayev said.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have created a firm legal basis including more than 20 signed documents.

Kusherbayev said expanding cooperation with dynamically developing Azerbaijan, advanced technologies and methods used in various fields of Azerbaijan's economy, particularly in agriculture, are of great interest to his country. He said Kazakhstan will capitalize on Azerbaijan's experience in agriculture.

During the Azerbaijani minister's meeting with the Kazakh deputy prime minister discussions focused on issues including prospects of expanding cooperation and development of relations in various fields of the economy including industry, agriculture, logistics, and tourism.

On the first day of its two-day visit to Azerbaijan, the Kazakh delegation visited the agricultural product processing enterprise Zehmet-Ruzi in Khirdalan, 10 km from Baku, and an industrial park in Sumgayit, about 30 km north of the capital city. Visits to see the work of enterprises operating in Gabala, northern Azerbaijan, were made during the second day.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan cooperate in the economic field, including the energy sector. Kazakhstan's state oil and gas company KazMunaiGas and Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR are in talks to create infrastructure to transport oil from Kazakhstan's Kashagan field during the second phase of its development.

Oil from Kashagan -- one of the largest oil fields in the world holding an estimated 30 billion barrels of oil-in-place, including 8-12 billion that are potentially recoverable -- may go through Azerbaijan during the implementation of the project's second phase, which is scheduled for 2018-2019. The companies developing the project are planning to begin commercial production on the field, located in the north of the Caspian Sea, in the first quarter of 2013.

Azerbaijanis and Kazakhs are both Turkic-speaking people and share close historical, religious and cultural ties. Both are littoral states of the Caspian Sea and possess a common maritime border. About 130,000 ethnic Azerbaijanis live in Kazakhstan.

Both countries are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Turkic Council, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

According to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee, between January and September last year, trade turnover between the two countries exceeded $260 million compared to $179 million during the same period of the previous year. The figure was $275 million in 2011.