Czech chamber of commerce to open in Azerbaijan this year
By Nigar Orujova
The Czech chamber of commerce for work with the CIS countries is expected to open in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, in the first half of 2013, Ambassador Radek Matula said at a meeting of the Caspian-European Integration Business Club (CEIBC) on Wednesday.
The meeting on "Caspian-European dialogue" was held with the participation of ambassadors of countries from the EU and the Caspian and Black Sea regions.
"This is important and will further expand cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic, as well as other CIS countries," Matula said.
He stressed that economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic is developing well. The trade turnover between the two countries reached 1.4 billion euros in 2012.
"We expect bilateral relations to develop further this year, " the ambassador said.
The relations between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic started with the recognition of Azerbaijan's independence on January 8, 1992.
Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Roland Kobia, speaking at the meeting, emphasized that the EU goods turnover with Azerbaijan has been on the rise.
Besides, energy remains the main area of cooperation. Kobia stressed the vast potential for expanding economic cooperation, especially in the energy and agricultural sectors.
Kobia said economic liberalization is an important process in Azerbaijan.
"It is important in terms of expanding the opportunities for citizens' participation in doing business," Kobia said.
Kobia expressed hope for making achievements in the negotiations on Azerbaijan's accession to the World Trade Organization in the near future.
According to Kobia, WTO accession meets the interests of Azerbaijan. According to him, it will considerably ease the work of businessmen. Many countries of the region still face monopoly problems, and in this regard it is necessary to promote competition in the market, Kobia said.
Along with the Azerbaijani-Europe energy cooperation, Kobia stressed the importance of developing cooperation in the non-oil sector.
The ambassadors of other European countries to Azerbaijan who delivered speeches at the meeting stressed the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and European countries not only in the energy sector, but also in other fields of the economy.
German Ambassador Herbert Quelle in his remarks said Germany created a joint chamber of commerce with Azerbaijan last year. He said it is a perfect communication center for the development of cooperation and invited CEIBC companies to be closely involved in this organization.
According to Quelle, the German-Azerbaijani trade chamber has become the second in the CIS after a similar organization was created in Moscow.
CEIBC was established in June 2002 with the support of Caspian Energy International Publishing House and the largest oil and gas companies working across the Caspian and Black Sea regions. Since 2002, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has been CIBC Honorary Chairman.
CEIBC mainly seeks to create favorable business conditions in the Caspian, Black Sea and Baltic regions, to maintain business-to-government dialog in order to improve business conditions, promote contacts between large businesses and small and medium enterprises and promote investment of oil revenues in the non-oil sector of the country. Since its inception CEIBC has been drawing oil industry revenues for the development of the non-oil economy.
The Club's activity proves to be very successful as the number of member companies grew from 16 businesses in 2002 to more than 300 in 2007 and further to over 500 member companies and organizations from 50 countries around the globe.