Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Kuwait is interested in developing cooperation with Azerbaijan in several areas such as the economy, tourism and humanitarian issues, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Kuwait Tural Rzayev has said and also cited possible cooperation on mutual investments.

"At this stage our goal is to realize a number of projects in such fields as the economy, education and culture. The main focus is on the implementation of these particular projects," Rzayev told the Baku-based Trend news agency.

According to him, Kuwaiti companies take interest in the Baku White City project in which they plan to be closely involved.

Urban Development Project Baku White City is realized under Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's decree approving an outline of comprehensive measures on improvement of the environmental situation in Azerbaijan in 2006-2010.

Speaking about agricultural cooperation prospects, Rzayev said, "Kuwait is one of the main oil extracting countries of the world. However, unlike Azerbaijan, the territory of the country is generally unsuitable for the development of agricultural industry. Prolific farmlands make up only 1-2 percent of its territory. In this connection, the volume of agricultural products imported to the country makes up 100 percent on some indicators. Goods are imported to Kuwait even from such faraway countries as Australia and New Zealand, and also from the countries of Latin America, though Azerbaijan is much closer."

According to Rzayev, currently some agricultural products of Azerbaijani private companies are appearing in the Kuwaiti market.

Regarding the opportunities of investment cooperation, Rzayev noted that both Azerbaijan and Kuwait are investor countries. However, this does not exclude the possibility of cooperation in the area of mutual investments, and related issues are under consideration of the parties.

"Along with this there is also a possibility of joint investment in third countries. Azerbaijan and Kuwait are oil exporting countries, but even in this field there is cooperation and potential for the development of the relations," the ambassador said.

Good contract and legal framework has been developed for effective economic cooperation of the two countries, Rzayev says. According to him, five documents were signed as a result of the second meeting of the Azerbaijani-Kuwaiti intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation held in Baku in March.

He also noted that Kuwaitis are actively buying real estate in Azerbaijan.

"Naturally, all this is explained by the political and economic stability in Azerbaijan, rampant economic growth and the increase of the authority of our country thanks to the successful domestic and foreign policy of the leadership of Azerbaijan," he said.

The ambassador also cited the tourism sector as another direction of the cooperation between the two countries.

"Azerbaijan attracts Kuwaitis by its rich tourism potential. In this particular direction we pursue a systematic information policy. Traditional Days of Culture are held from time to time in Azerbaijan and Kuwait. Info-tours are organized for representatives of travel agencies and journalists jointly with the Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Ministry. All this leads to an increase of interest in our country. Over the past year the inflow of tourists to Azerbaijan from Kuwait has increased five times compared to the previous years," Rzayev said.

Azerbaijani Days of Culture were held in Kuwait in February. As part of the event Azerbaijani concerts and other cultural activities took place.

In November-December 2012, Azerbaijan hosted the Kuwaiti Days of Culture, which featured a photo exhibition of the Arab country's history and culture, as well as its tourism potential.

Azerbaijan and Kuwait established diplomatic relations on October 10, 1994 with Azerbaijan opening an embassy in Al-Kuwait in 2004 and Kuwait opening an embassy in Baku in 2006.

Both countries, being subject to aggression from neighboring countries in the early 1990s, were primarily engaged in overcoming the dire consequences of the foreign occupation. Despite internal and external hardship, Kuwait and Azerbaijan spared no efforts to assist one another during the challenging times.

Azerbaijani firefighters rushed to help Kuwaiti counterparts to eliminate the consequences of fires set on the oil fields of Kuwait. In addition, Kuwait's government and charity organizations were among the first ones which lent their hand of assistance to Azerbaijan to alleviate the humanitarian situation facing refugees and internally displaced persons, who were driven out of their homes during the 1990s war with Armenia.